Large baluster jars are among the most impressive pieces of pottery produced in medieval Syria. While some examples were produced using overglaze lustre (cf. lot 137), the majority were painted in underglaze blue and black on a white ground. All were made in two parts; there is a pronounced ridge detectable on the interior below the shoulder.

The present example uses a form of decoration more frequently found on pottery bowls of the period; that of alternating bands of stylised calligraphy and floral motifs. As is usually found, the caligraphy is executed in black, which can be controlled more evenly in the firing process, while the bolder elements, almost always including the bands dividing the various panels, are in cobalt-blue. The composition on this jar resembles most closely that on a jar in the National Museum in Damascus (Atil, no.81, p.172, illustration reversed); the present example has a slightly more restrained outline. Both have a broad band of black calligraphy around the neck and the body divided into vertical panels by strong paired blue lines. That example, due to its slightly greater size, arranges the inscription bands horizontally across each alternate panel where our calligraphy is vertical. It is however the strong paired vertical blue lines of both that lend them their monumentality, demonstrating the strength of the composition while at the same time emphasising the voluptuous shape of the body.

Atil,E.: Renaissance of Islam - Art of the Mamluks, Washington D.C. 1981