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Lot Essay
Inscription:
The inscriptions reads baraka li-sahibihi, 'blessing to the owner of this [bowl]'
Pottery of this type is often referred to as ‘Samarra’ ware, a reference to the palace-city which served as the capital of the Abbasid caliphate in the ninth century. Though many examples of pottery of this type were excavated there in the early twentieth century, they are not believed to have been made in Samarra itself, but elsewhere in present-day Iraq - Baghdad, Kufa and – most recently – Basra have been suggested as places of manufacture. The silhouette of these bowls and their smooth white glaze emulates Tang Dynasty porcelain, examples of which were found during the excavations of Samarra, demonstrating the extent of trade connections between the Islamic world and China in the first millennium (Oliver Watson, Ceramics of Iran, London, 2020, p.41).
The sparse decoration on these bowls is rendered in cobalt blue pigment. Although some examples feature geometric or vegetal designs, many - like the present lot - are decorated instead with a single band of inscription. Similar examples, undecorated aside from the inscription, are in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford (acc.nos.EA1956.106 and EA1978.213) and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (acc.no.PO.31). Examples sold at auction in recent years include one sold by Sotheby’s London, 24 October 2007, lot 52, and in these Rooms 27 April 2017, lot 6, and 27 April 2007, lot 3. Of those, the latter has an inscription identical in content with that on the present lot.
The inscriptions reads baraka li-sahibihi, 'blessing to the owner of this [bowl]'
Pottery of this type is often referred to as ‘Samarra’ ware, a reference to the palace-city which served as the capital of the Abbasid caliphate in the ninth century. Though many examples of pottery of this type were excavated there in the early twentieth century, they are not believed to have been made in Samarra itself, but elsewhere in present-day Iraq - Baghdad, Kufa and – most recently – Basra have been suggested as places of manufacture. The silhouette of these bowls and their smooth white glaze emulates Tang Dynasty porcelain, examples of which were found during the excavations of Samarra, demonstrating the extent of trade connections between the Islamic world and China in the first millennium (Oliver Watson, Ceramics of Iran, London, 2020, p.41).
The sparse decoration on these bowls is rendered in cobalt blue pigment. Although some examples feature geometric or vegetal designs, many - like the present lot - are decorated instead with a single band of inscription. Similar examples, undecorated aside from the inscription, are in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford (acc.nos.EA1956.106 and EA1978.213) and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (acc.no.PO.31). Examples sold at auction in recent years include one sold by Sotheby’s London, 24 October 2007, lot 52, and in these Rooms 27 April 2017, lot 6, and 27 April 2007, lot 3. Of those, the latter has an inscription identical in content with that on the present lot.