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Maker/s

Unknown (potter)

Collection

Frank Brangwyn Collection

Category

fritware (stonepaste)
Islamic pottery (sub-category)lustreware (sub-category)

Name

bowl

School/Style

Seljuk

Monumental style

Description

fritware with blue and white glaze painted in lustre

buff fritware, mould made, with blue and white crazed glazes painted with a yellow-brown lustre. Shape: hexagonal or star shaped dish with bead rim, lobbed body with carination descending onto a flat base sitting on a foot ring. Interior: the rim is painted in lustre with blue colouring which has run from the external glaze. The lip is painted with scrolling leaves in lustre. The lobes on the body are decorated, alternately, with palmette leaves painted in reserve against a lustred background or jewel like motif surrounded by scrolling foliage painted in lustre. The central decoration is enclosed within a lobed cartouche, painted in reserve against a lustred background. A seated figure is depicted wearing a headdress and a robe decorated with groups of three dots, in his right hand he holds an object, possibly a vessel. Scrolling leaves and vines occupy the background around the figure. Exterior: a blue glaze covers the exterior and runs unevenly over the foot ring. The rim is painted with a band of lustre and on the upper body Arabic script (cursive) is painted.

Production Place

Iran (potter) (country) ()

Iranian (nationality) ()

Technique Description

fritware, mould made, with blue and white crazed glazes painted with a yellow-brown lustre

Dimensions

height: (whole): 6.4 cm
width: (whole): 20.2 cm
diameter: (rim): 20.2 cm
diameter: (base): 8.9 cm
weight: (whole): 409 g

Period

late 12th Century

Date

circa 1179 to 1198

Provenance

bought: Brangwyn, Frank 1935 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Frank Brangwyn RA, from whom purchased

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund

Inscriptions/Marks

1. inscription
   Position: exterior upper body
   Method: painted
   Content:
   Description: on the upper body script is painted in lustre in a free hand style, forming a concentric frieze
   Interpretation:
   Language: Arabic script (cursive)
   Translation: There is no God but the only God who has no partner
   
2. label
   Position: inside foot
   Method: printed, typed, hand written
   Content: "LENT BY" (printed in black) /Brangwyn (typed in purple) /"No." (printed) "78" (hand written in black); "68 " (hand written in pencil and crossed out)
   Description: rectangular paper label with serrated edge around bottom
   Interpretation: Possibly Victoria and Albert Museum label
   Language: English
   
3. label
   Position: inside foot
   Method: hand written
   Content: illegible
   Description: rectangular paper label underlies the Brangwyn label, it is inscribed in blank ink, possibly in Arabic
   

Documentation

1. Watson, Oliver (1985) Persian Lustre Ware, London: Faber and Faber Limited [page: 45-67]
   [comments: Cf. vessel shape figure 35 (p. 66) and Ref. on monumental style]
2. Morgan, P. (1994) Iranian Stone-Paste Pottery of the Saljuq Period. Types and Distribution, : Oxford University Press [page: 147-247]
   Source title: Cobalt Blue and Lustre. The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. (
   [comments: Cf. vessel shape with similar theme in central decoration comprising a seated figure and identical blue exterior glaze see catalogue number 244 (p. 221-2) and for general ref. on Iranian lustre wares]
3. Watson, Oliver (2004) Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London: Thames & Hudson [page: 346-361]
   [comments: Cf. seated figure in reserve on a lustred background see Cat. O.1 (p. 346) and for general ref. on Iranian lustre ware]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.122-1935 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 71618; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)