IRAN, 10TH CENTURY

This unusual intact glass bottle is very similar in its decoration to a jug that was found during the excavations at Nishapur (Jens Kröger Nishapur Glass of the Early Islamic Period, New York, 1995, no.228, pp.174-5 and cover; also Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse, Glass of the Sultans, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2001, no.97, pp.192-3). in each case the roundels are independantly contained within two plain bands, and contain animals or birds with cross-hatched bodies. Kröger notes that the design originates from Sassanian metalwork prototypes, as can easily be seen by comparison with lot 136 in this sale. The absence of a pronounced foot on the present bottle also relates it to Sassanian and post-Sassanian prototypes such as a bottle in the Corning Museum of Glass (Carboni and Whitehouse, op. cit., no.74, p.168). The combination of the foot and the very precise fine chevrons on the neck link this bottle to the small group of vessels with overlaid panels of different coloured glass and wheel-cut decration (Carboni and Whitehouse, op. cit., nos.99 and 100, pp.194-196).