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Lot Essay
One deep green glazed pottery boot was excavated from Samarkand/Afrasiyab (Terres Secrètes de Samarkande, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1992, no.304, p.115). It is dated in the catalogue to the late eighth or first half of the ninth centuries. The present example is much more elaborate in design, both the fanciful foot shape, and the moulded surface decoration.
While the cataloguer of the Samarkand example was unable to suggest a use for the boot found there, that piece is discussed in the context of a number of other related examples in an exhaustive article on the form (Melikian-Chirvani, A. S.: "The Iranian Wine Leg from Prehistory to Mongol Times", Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, vol.11, 1997, pp.65-91). In this discussion Melikian-Chirvani shows conclusively the textual basis for this conclusion, and also that it is the continuation of a long-established pre-Islamic tradition.
While the cataloguer of the Samarkand example was unable to suggest a use for the boot found there, that piece is discussed in the context of a number of other related examples in an exhaustive article on the form (Melikian-Chirvani, A. S.: "The Iranian Wine Leg from Prehistory to Mongol Times", Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, vol.11, 1997, pp.65-91). In this discussion Melikian-Chirvani shows conclusively the textual basis for this conclusion, and also that it is the continuation of a long-established pre-Islamic tradition.