A SIGNED KASHAN UNGLAZED POTTERY MOULD of thickly potted half dome form, the interior crisply carved with a band of linked palmettes formed of arabesques below a broad band with four lobed panels, three of the panels with scrolling vine around benedictory naskh phrases, the fourth with a kufic signature, 'the work of Hasan al-Kashani(?)', early 13th century (repaired)

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A SIGNED KASHAN UNGLAZED POTTERY MOULD of thickly potted half dome form, the interior crisply carved with a band of linked palmettes formed of arabesques below a broad band with four lobed panels, three of the panels with scrolling vine around benedictory naskh phrases, the fourth with a kufic signature, 'the work of Hasan al-Kashani(?)', early 13th century (repaired)
7½in. (19.1cm.) wide

Lot Essay

Moulds such as this, found at Nishapur, are evidence for the manufacture of fine monochrome glazed moulded vessels in the 12th/13th century. C.K. Wilkinson (Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, XVII, 1958-59, pp. 235-240) publishes examples and shows that the master-moulds which might have been used for high-relief decoration were sometimes of wood. One fragmentary mould contains part of what may be the potters signature. No other mould with a similar 'monumental' signature such as ours has been published though large scale signatures on relief-moulded vessels are not uncommon.

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