Page 51 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

*37
A KASHAN LUSTRE POTTERY DISH
IRAN, EARLY 13TH CENTURY
The central roundel with a pair of birds against a scrolling ground,
the cavetto with a band of white naskh against a lustre ground with
a series of cartouches containing arabesques or dots beyond, the
rim with white naskh against a dark lustre ground
12¡in. (31.3cm.) diam.
£10,000-15,000 US$12,000-17,000
€12,000-17,000

PROVENANCE:
Excavated Awdan Tepe, Gurgan, 1946-7
INSCRIPTIONS:
Around the inside of the rim part of a Persian benedictory quatrain:
‘May your wealth and glory always increase, May your prosperity
surpass all limits, So whatever reaches your palate from this
bowl …” [For the full poem, see Oya Pancaroğlu, Perpetual Glory:
Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection,
New Haven, 2007, p. 143.];
Also are repeats of part of a Persian benedictory couplet: “Protect [O
Creator of the World], the owner [of this bowl, wherever he may be]”
Excerpts from the same verses are found around the interior of the
base
Two similar confronted birds on a ground of tight scrolls are
also found on a bowl, dated to AH 614/1217 AD, formerly in the
collection of Clement N. Ades and now in the Victoria & Albert
37
Museum (C160-1977; Dr. Mehdi Bahrami¸ Gurgan Faiences, Cairo,
1949, pl.LI).

*38
A NISHAPUR CONICAL POTTERY BOWL
IRAN, 10TH CENTURY
Painted under the glaze in ochre, yellow and white against a brown
ground, the interior with a rabbit at the centre surrounded by a
band of zig-zag pattern enclosing triangles, the exterior painted
with a red slip and clear glaze *39
8in. (20.4cm.) diam. A MONUMENTAL KASHAN LUSTRE POTTERY DISH
£5,000-7,000 US$5,800-8,000 ILKHANID IRAN, LATE 13TH/EARLY 14TH CENTURY
€5,700-8,000 The central roundel with a figure riding a horse, encircled by a band of cobalt- instance, bear resemblance to those that decorate a number of tiles in the
blue pseudo-inscriptions, the cavetto with eight musicians against floral Museum of the Shrine of Fatima in Qumm, one dated AH 661/1263 AD
ground, the rim with a further band of pseudo-inscriptions, repaired breaks
th
PROVENANCE: and another attributed to the latter part of the 13 century (Arthur Upham
and areas of restoration
Excavated Village Tepe, Nishapur, first half twentieth century Pope, ‘New Findings in Persian Ceramics of the Islamic Period’, Bulletin of
18in. (45.7cm.) diam.
the American Institute for Iranian Art and Archaeology, Vol.5, no.2, December
One of the most enigmatic groups of Islamic pottery, 10th century £60,000-80,000 US$69,000-91,000 1937, figs.5 and 6, p.155 and 157). Our mounted horseman also finds stylistic
Nishapur ware is easily identified by the use of vivid, often €69,000-91,000 resemblance to images from the Diez Album, originally from an early
figural, designs and the use of a lead stannate pigment which fourteenth century copy of Rashid al-Din’s Jami’ al-Tawarikh. The depiction of
appears as a bright mustard yellow. Their iconography has been PROVENANCE: the horse, the horseman’s turban and the wide rounded faces of our figures
variously interpreted as astrological symbols, royal Sassanian Excavated Ray, 1928 all bear resemblance to those of a folio depicting a Mongol Travelling (Diez A
imagery, or depictions of the annual celebration of Nowruz. While fol.71,S.53; published The Legacy of Genghis Khan, exhibition catalogue, New
Nishapur ware more often depicts rams and ibexes, the rabbit This is a spectacular example of a large-scale Ilkhanid lustre dish. Although York, 2002, p.43, fig.39, cat.no.22). The heavy lotus-like palmettes, also find
is not uncommon across the broader corpus of medieval Islamic there has been some restoration, the drawing on the original elements is comparison on later 13 century tiles, including those on the star tile which
th
pottery and was frequently depicted in contemporaneous Khalila extremely elegant and precise - the face of the central rider and his horse, is lot 31 in this sale. Although there are numerous tiles that survive from this
wa Dimna manuscripts. Red-slip bowls with a similar silhouette their elaborate spotted coats, and the moon-faced musicians that decorate later period of lustre production, there are fewer vessels and even less on this
but with non-figural decoration can be found in the collection of the rim, for instance, are all drawn with a beautiful finesse. Ilkhanid figural grand scale, which allows for a real strength of design. Another very large
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and in the Al-Sabah lustre, particularly on this scale, is rare. The lustre here is beautifully dark Ilkhanid lustre dish, very different in design but with a similar overall feeling,
Collection, Kuwait (Oliver Watson, Ceramics from the Islamic and intense, and the drawing finds close comparison with that on a number was previously in the Kevorkian collection, and offered for sale at Sotheby’s,
th
th
Lands, London, 2004, p. 229). of tiles that are typically dated late 13 or early 14 century. The figures, for London, October 2011, lot 216.
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48 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty 49
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.