PROBABLY NISHAPUR, NORTH EAST IRAN, 12TH CENTURY

Details

A CARVED AND PIERCED CONICAL POTTERY BOWL
PROBABLY NISHAPUR, NORTH EAST IRAN, 12TH CENTURY
On slightly everted flat foot, the brilliant white interior carved and incised with a broad band of roundels containing eight-pointed flowerheads alternating with groups of four scrolling flowerheads, the roundels surrounded by further similar motifs and vine, the background with extensive pierced holes, repaired clean breaks, one area of iridescence on the exterior
7 1/8in. (18cm.) diam.

Provenance

Mrs Hilda C. Hanna, Cairo, in 1949.

Literature

Mehdi Bahrami, Gurgan Faiences, Cairo, 1949, pl.II.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note that the lots of Iranian origin are subject to U.S. trade restrictions which currently prohibit the import into the United States. Similar restrictions may apply in other countries.

Lot Essay

The present bowl is typified by a very white base, brilliantly shiny glaze, and a dense white body that is so fine grained as to give the impression of proper porcelain. The foot also, with its wide flat outer ring around a shallow flat central depression, and in contrast to almost all Iranian wares, directly copies the Chinese prototype example of which was excavated at Nishapur (Charles K. Wilkinson, Nishapur Pottery of the Early Islamic Period, New York, pp.257 and 258, no.16). Bahrami notes that this foot was found on a small number of other bowls found at Gurgan, but is not recorded elsewhere (op.cit., p.41). Another bowl of the same group and very comparable decoration is in the Freer Gallery (Esin Atil, Ceramics from the World of Islam, Washington D.C., 1973, no.14, pp.40-41).

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