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拍品專文
This bowl, bold in design and almost contemporary in feel, is one of a distinctive group of figural Abbasid monochrome lustre ceramics. The shape is one that clearly imitates its prized Chinese model - with the rounded cavetto, short foot and everted rim - whilst the body is of distinctive 'Basran' clay (Oliver Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London, 2004, p. 172 and 183). This, and other examples Abbasid lustreware of its type are characterized by an aesthetic of horror vacui where the surface is covered with rich designs designed to make the most of the qualities of the lustre itself.
The present bowl relates closely to an example in the Ashmolean museum (1956.66 Barlow Gift, James W. Allan, Islamic Ceramics, Oxford, 1991, no. 3, pp.8-9). In his discussion on that bowl, Allan suggests that the central figure, very similar to ours in features and pose, finds his influence further east than the Mesopotamian origins of the bowl. The peaked hat worn on both figures' heads is possibly a loosely interpreted Central Asian ushnisha. A similar, if less accentuated, hat is found also on a similar bowl with a central lute player published by Arthur Upham Pope (A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1938, Vol. V, pl. 579). Further expansion on the analogy is possible with the Ashmolean bowl. The figure carries a stylized flower held in one hand and something that loosely resembles a phurbu or ceremonial dagger, in his left. On this basis, it has been suggested that he is a Bodhisattva, the Buddhist figures who feature heavily in 8th century wall paintings in Central Asia, often depicted with these accoutrements. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Iraq was inundated with Turks - brought in from Central Asia to provide the mercenaries on which the Caliphs' security depended. With them came new decorative ideas and motifs, of which this was probably one. For a long discussion on the Central Asian influences on 'Abbasid lustre see Géza Fehérvári, 'Two Early 'Abbasid Lustre Bowls and the Influence of Central Asia', Oriental Art, Vol.9, no.2, 1963, pp.79-88.
Of note is the background of dots on which the main design is based, derivative of the background punching on precious metal (see, for instance, lot 65 in the sale) and demonstrating clearly the effect that the latter had on lustre tradition. Abbasid lustre was, like the metalwork that influenced it, a luxury ware and as a result was exported as much as the motifs that decorated the vessels. Examples of this type of pottery have been found across the Islamic world - from as far afield as Brahminabad, Pakistan to the ruins of the palace of Medina Al-Zahra in Cordoba and from Transoxiana, Northern Iran (Rayy) and Algeria in between (Alan Caiger-Smith, Lustre Potter, London, 1985, p.36). The largest quantities were however excavated at Samarra, much from the palace of al-Mu'tasim, the Jawsaq al-Khanqni (836-63), in 1911-13. The city did continue to thrive until the 10th century which provides therefore a terminus ante quem for the group, but does not help in refining the attribution. The only definite date for similar lustre ware is suggested by a set of tiles in the Great Mosque at Qairawan in Tunisia, datable to the year 862-63 (Georges Marçais, Les faïences a reflets métalliques de la Grande Mosqueée de Kairouan, Paris, 1928). As tiles used in a religious context of course the decorative repertoire is a far cry from the bold figure found here, but the aesthetic of small repeated patterns that fill the background is very similar, and the concentric circles around our figure find easy parallels (for example in Marçais, op. cit., no. 70 pl. XII).
The present bowl relates closely to an example in the Ashmolean museum (1956.66 Barlow Gift, James W. Allan, Islamic Ceramics, Oxford, 1991, no. 3, pp.8-9). In his discussion on that bowl, Allan suggests that the central figure, very similar to ours in features and pose, finds his influence further east than the Mesopotamian origins of the bowl. The peaked hat worn on both figures' heads is possibly a loosely interpreted Central Asian ushnisha. A similar, if less accentuated, hat is found also on a similar bowl with a central lute player published by Arthur Upham Pope (A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1938, Vol. V, pl. 579). Further expansion on the analogy is possible with the Ashmolean bowl. The figure carries a stylized flower held in one hand and something that loosely resembles a phurbu or ceremonial dagger, in his left. On this basis, it has been suggested that he is a Bodhisattva, the Buddhist figures who feature heavily in 8th century wall paintings in Central Asia, often depicted with these accoutrements. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Iraq was inundated with Turks - brought in from Central Asia to provide the mercenaries on which the Caliphs' security depended. With them came new decorative ideas and motifs, of which this was probably one. For a long discussion on the Central Asian influences on 'Abbasid lustre see Géza Fehérvári, 'Two Early 'Abbasid Lustre Bowls and the Influence of Central Asia', Oriental Art, Vol.9, no.2, 1963, pp.79-88.
Of note is the background of dots on which the main design is based, derivative of the background punching on precious metal (see, for instance, lot 65 in the sale) and demonstrating clearly the effect that the latter had on lustre tradition. Abbasid lustre was, like the metalwork that influenced it, a luxury ware and as a result was exported as much as the motifs that decorated the vessels. Examples of this type of pottery have been found across the Islamic world - from as far afield as Brahminabad, Pakistan to the ruins of the palace of Medina Al-Zahra in Cordoba and from Transoxiana, Northern Iran (Rayy) and Algeria in between (Alan Caiger-Smith, Lustre Potter, London, 1985, p.36). The largest quantities were however excavated at Samarra, much from the palace of al-Mu'tasim, the Jawsaq al-Khanqni (836-63), in 1911-13. The city did continue to thrive until the 10th century which provides therefore a terminus ante quem for the group, but does not help in refining the attribution. The only definite date for similar lustre ware is suggested by a set of tiles in the Great Mosque at Qairawan in Tunisia, datable to the year 862-63 (Georges Marçais, Les faïences a reflets métalliques de la Grande Mosqueée de Kairouan, Paris, 1928). As tiles used in a religious context of course the decorative repertoire is a far cry from the bold figure found here, but the aesthetic of small repeated patterns that fill the background is very similar, and the concentric circles around our figure find easy parallels (for example in Marçais, op. cit., no. 70 pl. XII).