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Lot Essay
This monumental jar belongs to a small group of comparable turquoise-glazed vessels, many of which are preserved in major institutional collections. Characterised by their exceptional scale, opaque turquoise glaze and combination of moulded and incised decoration, these jars demonstrate the considerable technical accomplishment of medieval Iranian potters. They are also related to a slightly smaller group of cobalt-blue and lustre-painted vessels, which tend to rely more exclusively on moulded decoration. Although its original function is unknown, similar earthenware vessels may have been used for the storage of grain or wine.
Published turquoise-glazed examples of this scale include the jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (39.189), dated to the 12th or 13th century and measuring 80cm. high (Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery, London, 1947, pl.44); another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (2433-1876); one in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin (Islamische Kunst in Berlin, Berlin, 1964, no. 466, colour pl.9); and one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.755). A further example formerly in the Rothschild Collection is published in Pope, op. cit., pl.763. The Metropolitan Museum jar is similarly divided into four registers and decorated with winged griffins against scrolling foliage, arabesques and benedictory kufic. Its animal frieze provides a particularly close parallel to that on the present example.
Another close comparison is the jar in The David Collection, Copenhagen (1⁄1975). Measuring 76cm. high, it has a similarly rounded body and straight neck articulated by registers of moulded decoration, including foliated kufic and repeated palmette-derived motifs. Although these elements are arranged differently, the close correspondence of the decorative vocabulary associates the two vessels with the same broader group. A closely related turquoise-glazed jar, measuring 71cm. high, was sold at Christie’s, London, 23 April 2002, lot 156.
The present jar is distinguished within this group by its commanding scale and the progression of its decoration from fish-scale motifs and vertical fluting to split-palmettes, an animated animal frieze and monumental foliated kufic. The successful production of a ceramic vessel of this size, with such extensive moulded decoration, vividly demonstrates the technical ambition of medieval Iranian pottery manufacture.
Published turquoise-glazed examples of this scale include the jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (39.189), dated to the 12th or 13th century and measuring 80cm. high (Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery, London, 1947, pl.44); another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (2433-1876); one in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin (Islamische Kunst in Berlin, Berlin, 1964, no. 466, colour pl.9); and one in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.755). A further example formerly in the Rothschild Collection is published in Pope, op. cit., pl.763. The Metropolitan Museum jar is similarly divided into four registers and decorated with winged griffins against scrolling foliage, arabesques and benedictory kufic. Its animal frieze provides a particularly close parallel to that on the present example.
Another close comparison is the jar in The David Collection, Copenhagen (1⁄1975). Measuring 76cm. high, it has a similarly rounded body and straight neck articulated by registers of moulded decoration, including foliated kufic and repeated palmette-derived motifs. Although these elements are arranged differently, the close correspondence of the decorative vocabulary associates the two vessels with the same broader group. A closely related turquoise-glazed jar, measuring 71cm. high, was sold at Christie’s, London, 23 April 2002, lot 156.
The present jar is distinguished within this group by its commanding scale and the progression of its decoration from fish-scale motifs and vertical fluting to split-palmettes, an animated animal frieze and monumental foliated kufic. The successful production of a ceramic vessel of this size, with such extensive moulded decoration, vividly demonstrates the technical ambition of medieval Iranian pottery manufacture.