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Lot Essay
The ewer is filled through the small rectangular aperture at the top of the handle. The central mouth just leads to a central tubular chamber, probably to contain ice to keep the liquid cold. While a number of such ewers are known in metal all of which appear to be dateable to the first half of the seventeenth century, pottery ewers using the handle as the means of filling are extremely rare.
The cold gilt decoration is also rarely noted in literature on the subject. Arthur Lane notes a smaller jug in the Victoria and Albert Museum which has much simpler cold gold floral motifs (Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, pl.93B). That example interestingly also has the applied small rosettes seen here, although ours each have one fewer petal. It is possible that it was as a result of such painting that the fashion for lustre began again in the second half of the century.
The cold gilt decoration is also rarely noted in literature on the subject. Arthur Lane notes a smaller jug in the Victoria and Albert Museum which has much simpler cold gold floral motifs (Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, pl.93B). That example interestingly also has the applied small rosettes seen here, although ours each have one fewer petal. It is possible that it was as a result of such painting that the fashion for lustre began again in the second half of the century.