A LARGE KASHAN POTTERY LUSTRE DISH

CENTRAL PERSIA, LATE 12TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE KASHAN POTTERY LUSTRE DISH
CENTRAL PERSIA, LATE 12TH CENTURY
Of shallow rounded form with sloping rim on short foot, the white tin glazed interior painted in lustre with a central roundel depicting an enthroned figrue surrounded by a variety of attendants, in a band of interlaced arabesques, the cavetto with a broad inner band of a procession of camels, each amusingly drawn, together with a single herdsman, a reserved band of roundels containing figures above, the rim with a band of fleeting, scurrying and crouching deer, the exterior with a broad band of bold foliated kufic, a band of cusping around the rim, repaired breaks, some areas of glaze decomposition, very slight retouching in a few places
19¼in. (48.8cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

As with the Abu Zaid bowl offered as lot 236 in this sale, the present dish has a remarkably painterly handling of the composition. The band of camels in particular are beautifully observed, some munching the ground while others visibly lumber along. The deer around the rim are again very lightly drawn. These are in strong contrast to the magnificent monumentality of the kufic inscription on the reverse of the dish.

There are a number of similarities with mina'i pottery painting to be found. A bowl in the Freer Gallery has a comparable procession of horses (Atil, Esin: Ceramics from the World of Islam, Washington, 1973, no.35, pp.82-3). The camels are also more frequently found there than in lustre. An example in the same collection has a band of these animals with their drivers painted around the exterior (Atil, E: op.cit, no.37. pp.86-7).

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