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Lot Essay
The inscription under the figures, which has not been possible fully to decipher, translates:
"The Amir of Transoxiana relates to Kusan (?) in the land of Marv: as long as joy ......... a little slave girl came to sit in the herb garden. It was written (katabahu) during the year 575 (1179-80 AD) of the prophet's migration.
It is also possible to read the date as AH 595 (1198-9 AD).
The inner kufic border is a repeat of "glory. and".
The inscription around the outer walls are Persian verses. That under the foot is also part of a Persian verse.
This bowl is decorated in a way that clearly owes a considerable amount to the miniature painting of the period. All the figures are drawn in outline, with none of the design being worked in reserve against a lustre ground. The lower portion of the bowl is even filled in to make the composition more of a horizontal rectangle such as one would find in a manuscript. These observations caused Oliver Watson to suggest a "miniature" style within the early periods of Kashan lustre pottery (Watson, Oliver: Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp.68-85). Within this group he subdivides a small number of bowls painted in the "large-scale miniature style", many of which depict historical scenes, have an identificatory inscription below the figures, and which clearly relate in terms of composition to a group of mina'i enamelled bowls with similar characteristics (Watson, op.cit, p.70 and pls.48-51).
Watson further defined this group of mina'i bowls in an lecture in Edinburgh which was subsequently published (Watson,, Oliver: 'Documentary Mina'i and Abu Zaid's bowls', in Hillenbrand, Robert (ed.): The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia, Costa Mesa, Calif., 1994, pp.170-180). In this article he shows why all this group of mina'i bowls can be attributed to Abu Zaid. Of the group, two are signed while all are dated.
The present bowl can with a fair degree of certainty also be attributed to this potter. The composition is very close to almost all the other bowls. A seated royal figure is on the right of the composition on a throne with pronounced triangular upper corners to its back. There is a secondary figure associated with this first figure, while another figure, slightly separated from the others, is on the left. While most of the mina'i bowls have stylised lakes below, they all combine this with an inscription. The slightly smaller size of the present bowl may well be the reason for the slightly less conplicated composition. The final bowl illustrated by Watson (Watson: Mina'i, pl.168) has similarly fewer motifs and appears to be smaller although no size is given.
Within the composition many of the motifs are identical to the Abu Zaid group. The headdresses of the two figures on the right of our bowl are exactly parallel to various headdresses on the mina'i bowls. There are also the two flying birds in the sky of a form which is not usually seen on other pieces, but which seem to inhabit every one of Abu Zaid's bowls. The wings of each are bent back parallel to the body as if they are flying faster than birds on other bowls which are generally perching or sometimes flying with wings spread. The inscription also has many of the same idiosyncracies, particularly in the writing of the date where the scribe has loosened his style somewhat. The khamsami'a appears to be rendered as khami'a as Watson notes on other pieces (Watson: mina'i, p.173) while the waw is attached to the end of the khamsa in the same way as it is to the end of the ithna on a fragment formerly in the Bahramni Collection (Watson: Mina'i, pl.160).
There is considerable evidence that Abu Zaid was the most innovative potter in Kashan, and that he was one of the main driving forces behind the huge surge in popularity of pottery from there (Watson, Mina'i, pp.174-5). His works already span the years 582 to 616 (1186-1215 AD). If the date on this bowl is read as 595, that would fit well into his known period of working. But the mina'i bowls which are stylistically so close are temporally nearer the earlier date. 575 is the earliest known date on a piece of lustre, a fragmentary vase in the British Museum, (Watson: Lustre, pl.37), so is also a very credible reading. It has not been possible to identify the historical personages or the event depicted in the main scene.
"The Amir of Transoxiana relates to Kusan (?) in the land of Marv: as long as joy ......... a little slave girl came to sit in the herb garden. It was written (katabahu) during the year 575 (1179-80 AD) of the prophet's migration.
It is also possible to read the date as AH 595 (1198-9 AD).
The inner kufic border is a repeat of "glory. and".
The inscription around the outer walls are Persian verses. That under the foot is also part of a Persian verse.
This bowl is decorated in a way that clearly owes a considerable amount to the miniature painting of the period. All the figures are drawn in outline, with none of the design being worked in reserve against a lustre ground. The lower portion of the bowl is even filled in to make the composition more of a horizontal rectangle such as one would find in a manuscript. These observations caused Oliver Watson to suggest a "miniature" style within the early periods of Kashan lustre pottery (Watson, Oliver: Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp.68-85). Within this group he subdivides a small number of bowls painted in the "large-scale miniature style", many of which depict historical scenes, have an identificatory inscription below the figures, and which clearly relate in terms of composition to a group of mina'i enamelled bowls with similar characteristics (Watson, op.cit, p.70 and pls.48-51).
Watson further defined this group of mina'i bowls in an lecture in Edinburgh which was subsequently published (Watson,, Oliver: 'Documentary Mina'i and Abu Zaid's bowls', in Hillenbrand, Robert (ed.): The Art of the Saljuqs in Iran and Anatolia, Costa Mesa, Calif., 1994, pp.170-180). In this article he shows why all this group of mina'i bowls can be attributed to Abu Zaid. Of the group, two are signed while all are dated.
The present bowl can with a fair degree of certainty also be attributed to this potter. The composition is very close to almost all the other bowls. A seated royal figure is on the right of the composition on a throne with pronounced triangular upper corners to its back. There is a secondary figure associated with this first figure, while another figure, slightly separated from the others, is on the left. While most of the mina'i bowls have stylised lakes below, they all combine this with an inscription. The slightly smaller size of the present bowl may well be the reason for the slightly less conplicated composition. The final bowl illustrated by Watson (Watson: Mina'i, pl.168) has similarly fewer motifs and appears to be smaller although no size is given.
Within the composition many of the motifs are identical to the Abu Zaid group. The headdresses of the two figures on the right of our bowl are exactly parallel to various headdresses on the mina'i bowls. There are also the two flying birds in the sky of a form which is not usually seen on other pieces, but which seem to inhabit every one of Abu Zaid's bowls. The wings of each are bent back parallel to the body as if they are flying faster than birds on other bowls which are generally perching or sometimes flying with wings spread. The inscription also has many of the same idiosyncracies, particularly in the writing of the date where the scribe has loosened his style somewhat. The khamsami'a appears to be rendered as khami'a as Watson notes on other pieces (Watson: mina'i, p.173) while the waw is attached to the end of the khamsa in the same way as it is to the end of the ithna on a fragment formerly in the Bahramni Collection (Watson: Mina'i, pl.160).
There is considerable evidence that Abu Zaid was the most innovative potter in Kashan, and that he was one of the main driving forces behind the huge surge in popularity of pottery from there (Watson, Mina'i, pp.174-5). His works already span the years 582 to 616 (1186-1215 AD). If the date on this bowl is read as 595, that would fit well into his known period of working. But the mina'i bowls which are stylistically so close are temporally nearer the earlier date. 575 is the earliest known date on a piece of lustre, a fragmentary vase in the British Museum, (Watson: Lustre, pl.37), so is also a very credible reading. It has not been possible to identify the historical personages or the event depicted in the main scene.