CENTRAL ASIA, 14TH CENTURY

Details

A GOLDEN HORDE POTTERY BOWL
CENTRAL ASIA, 14TH CENTURY
Of rounded form on short foot, the pale grey interior lightly moulded with a white slip under the glaze with a central lotus flowerhead, in a band of leaf-motifs, the border with a band of stylised inverted inscription, the designs highlighted by cobalt-blue and turquoise dots, the exterior with a simple stylised arcade, repaired clean breaks
7½in. (19cm.) diam.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This bowl relates very closely to pottery vessels found at Sarai Berke on the Volga which was founded by Berke Khan in the 13th century. Excavations in the mid-19th century and earlier this century uncovered unglazed and glazed pottery vessels not dissimilar from those attributed to Sultanabad. The leaf motifs of the Golden Horde pieces however tend to be more strongly drawn and the white slips are more thickly applied. The discovery of kilns at Sarai Berke demonstrated that they were made locally.

Examples can be found at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, two published examples of which are very close indeed to the present bowl (Masterpieces of Islamic Art at the Hermitage Museum, Kuwait, 1990, pl.65, p.97 and pl.69, p.100). A very large but fragmentary example was sold in these Rooms, 11 April 2000, lot 241.

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