CENTRAL IRAN, 13TH CENTURY

This remarkable jug features a classic example of the "monumental style" of lustre painting that originated in Kashan in central Iran (Oliver Watson, Persian Lustre Pottery, London, 1985, p.123). Iranian potters used lustre alone to outline, detail, and create backgrounds, as demonstrated on this piece. In this style the large figures are usually, as here, presented against a solid lustre ground. The rider motif, commonly found in Islamic ceramic decoration, was frequently used by Kashani potters on both vessels and tiles. This jug is decorated with four cartouches, each depicting a rider, from which viewers could interpret and construct their own stories. Other popular scenes depicted on ceramics include activities such as hunting, feasting, and dancing, which were associated with the elite class. The art of painting a design in a metal oxide and then firing it in a reducing kiln to leave the metal as lustre forming the design on the surface was first developed in Iraq during the 9th century and later introduced to Kashan in Iran around 1170, where this jug was created. A Kashan jug of a similar shape, but slightly smaller size is published in Alan Caiger-Smith, Lustre Pottery, London, 1985, p.69, pl. 43.