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Lot Essay
The two powerful dishes offered here (lot 44 and lot 45), with their elongated kufic inscriptions intensely focused against an immaculate white ground, are typical of what Julian Raby has referred to as amongst ‘the most majestic achievements of the Islamic potter’ (Julian Raby, ‘Looking for Silver in Clay: A New Perspective on Samanid Ceramics’ in Vickers, 1986, p.184). As early as 1944, Lane described the group in these terms: 'Their beauty is of the highest intellectual order; they hold the essence of Islam undiluted' (Lane, 1946, p.18). More recently, Robert Hillenbrand discusses their 'minimalistic aesthetics' and their 'beauty [that] resides in the reduction to the essential' (Robert Hillenbrand, 'Content versus Context in Samanid Epigraphic Pottery' in Peacock and Tor, 2015, p.61).
Samanid potters can be credited with the invention and perfection of slip-painted pottery – in which clarity of design was achieved by painting brownish pigment mixed with slip on a white engobe which is painted over the red earthenware. These ceramics are amongst the first pieces produced in the Islamic world where epigraphy is the sole ornament. Large numbers of them were excavated at Nishapur and Samarqand (Afrasiyab) and although none is dated, they are roughly datable to the 10th century and a period that corresponds to Samanid rule (874-1005). Hillenbrand raises the question of their patronage and context, as the inscriptions are exclusively in Arabic but they were produced in Persian lands.
In his discussion of the dishes, Raby convincingly argues that Samanid epigraphic pottery owes its distinctive shapes and decorative repertoire to local silversmithing traditions. He suggests that an increased pottery production may have been a response to a decline in silversmithing, due to a rise in the value of silver. Certainly the distinctive pottery of the Samanid period owes very little to an existing ceramic production. The shape of Samanid pottery, with its sharp angles and thin straight walls is unlike other Islamic pottery of the period but can be found be metal prototypes: see for instance a dish offered at Christie's, London, 23 April 2015, lot 10 and a silver salver, found at Izgirli in Bulgaria but held to be Islamic, probably from 11th century Khorassan (Raby, op.cit., in Vickers,1986, fig.21, p.193).
The calligraphy of our dishes strongly recalls that found on Qur'ans copied in 'Eastern' Kufic where the playful use of elongations (mashq) contrasts with the elongated curving upstrokes. Raby writes of the aesthetic of dark calligraphy against a stark white ground which is equally reminiscent of niello engraving and characterises much of early Islamic epigraphic silver (Raby, op.cit., pp.186-87). One area in which the inscriptions on pottery differ dramatically from those on metal or paper however is in their content. Whilst inscriptions on metal objects are largely dedicatory or benedictory, the inscriptions on Samanid ceramics usually contain aphorisms. Perhaps because they were less likely to be produced as special commissions, but more for general appeal. Many of the inscriptions allude to faith, generosity and noble qualities, often in a context of food or eating – something Oliver Watson suggests indicates their use as tableware, not just as decorative pieces (Watson, 2004, p.206).
Samanid potters can be credited with the invention and perfection of slip-painted pottery – in which clarity of design was achieved by painting brownish pigment mixed with slip on a white engobe which is painted over the red earthenware. These ceramics are amongst the first pieces produced in the Islamic world where epigraphy is the sole ornament. Large numbers of them were excavated at Nishapur and Samarqand (Afrasiyab) and although none is dated, they are roughly datable to the 10th century and a period that corresponds to Samanid rule (874-1005). Hillenbrand raises the question of their patronage and context, as the inscriptions are exclusively in Arabic but they were produced in Persian lands.
In his discussion of the dishes, Raby convincingly argues that Samanid epigraphic pottery owes its distinctive shapes and decorative repertoire to local silversmithing traditions. He suggests that an increased pottery production may have been a response to a decline in silversmithing, due to a rise in the value of silver. Certainly the distinctive pottery of the Samanid period owes very little to an existing ceramic production. The shape of Samanid pottery, with its sharp angles and thin straight walls is unlike other Islamic pottery of the period but can be found be metal prototypes: see for instance a dish offered at Christie's, London, 23 April 2015, lot 10 and a silver salver, found at Izgirli in Bulgaria but held to be Islamic, probably from 11th century Khorassan (Raby, op.cit., in Vickers,1986, fig.21, p.193).
The calligraphy of our dishes strongly recalls that found on Qur'ans copied in 'Eastern' Kufic where the playful use of elongations (mashq) contrasts with the elongated curving upstrokes. Raby writes of the aesthetic of dark calligraphy against a stark white ground which is equally reminiscent of niello engraving and characterises much of early Islamic epigraphic silver (Raby, op.cit., pp.186-87). One area in which the inscriptions on pottery differ dramatically from those on metal or paper however is in their content. Whilst inscriptions on metal objects are largely dedicatory or benedictory, the inscriptions on Samanid ceramics usually contain aphorisms. Perhaps because they were less likely to be produced as special commissions, but more for general appeal. Many of the inscriptions allude to faith, generosity and noble qualities, often in a context of food or eating – something Oliver Watson suggests indicates their use as tableware, not just as decorative pieces (Watson, 2004, p.206).