A LARGE CANTON FAMILLE ROSE PUNCHBOWL FOR THE PERSIAN MARKET

Details
A LARGE CANTON FAMILLE ROSE PUNCHBOWL FOR THE PERSIAN MARKET
dated 1297 A.H. (AD 1879/80) and of the period

Gilt on the exterior with a dedicatory roundel of nasta'liq script and enamelled with shaped cartouches of figures at leisure alternating with birds, butterflies, fruit and flowering foliage on a gilt ground within C-scroll surrounds and divided by horizontal trellis-pattern bands, all reserved on a lavender-blue ground embellished with scrolling hibiscus, the interior similarly enamelled, minor rim chip
15½in. (39.1cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

The inscription is dated 1297AH, corresponding to AD 1879-1880 in the name of Mas'ud Mirza Zill al-Sultan, eldest son of the Shah Nasir
al-Din (reigned 1848-1896). He was an important figure in the politics of Iran and as governor of Isfahan (from 1874) was the virtual ruler of Southern Persia between 1881 and 1887. He had to relinquish all his
government posts in 1888 except the governorship of Isfahan.

A similar bowl bears the same inscription, see J. Scarce, The Arts of the Eighteenth to Twentieth Century, Cambridge History of Iran, vol.7, p.932.

A similar punchbowl and two dishes were sold in these Rooms, 23 April 1990, lots 153 and 154.

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