A KASHAN LUSTRE POTTERY BOWL
A KASHAN LUSTRE POTTERY BOWL

CENTRAL IRAN, DATED AH 614/1217-18 AD

Details
A KASHAN LUSTRE POTTERY BOWL
CENTRAL IRAN, DATED AH 614/1217-18 AD
Of conical form rising from short vertical foot, the central roundel with a gazelle beside a cobalt and turquoise stream, encircled by a band of loose white naskh reserved against lustre ground, the cavetto with eight stout princely figures within cobalt-outlined panels and alternated with further bands of similar naskh, dated in two places, the exterior with a broad band of stylized kufic against deep lustre ground possibly reading bi al-yumn (with good fortune), below a band of lustre naskh on white ground, repair to rim, in fitted box
9 1/8in. (23.2cm.) diam.
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 17 October 1996, lot 23

Brought to you by

Romain Pingannaud
Romain Pingannaud

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Lot Essay

The inscription around this bowl is a selection of Persian and Arabic verses. It is also twice dated 'the year AH 614' [1217-18 AD].

This magnificent bowl falls into a group executed in what Oliver Watson terms the 'Kashan style', a style which once established lasted with little modification for a century and a half (Oliver Watson, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, p. 88). The style was designed to show off the lustre technique at its most brilliant, and involves relieving the lustre ground with tight scrollwork or small spirals or commas scratched through the lustre to give it a lighter texture. The composition of the cavetto, with large-scale figures alternated with bands of calligraphy is found on a bowl in the Jacques O. Matossian Collection (Mehdi Bahrami, Gurgan Faiences, Cairo, 1949, pl. LXIX). A similar bowl which carries the same date is in the Keir Collection and was exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Islamic Pottery, 800-1400 AD, exhibition catalogue, London, 1969, no. 106, p. 35).

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