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Maker/s

Unknown (potter)

Collection

Henry Scipio Reitlinger

Category

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

Name

bottle

School/Style

Seljuk

Monumental style

Description

fritware, moulded with a white or blue glaze painted with lustre

fritware, moulded, covered with slightly pitted white or blue glaze, both crazed and painted with brown lustre. Shape: everted rim with bulbous collar and straight neck ending in two horizontal ridges. Four faces of the body are shaped to form figures, enhanced by painted decoration, each separated by a prominent vertical corner ridge; sits on a foot ring Exterior: mouth, neck and shoulder are decorated in lustre with concentric bands separating friezes of scrolling patterns which, on the collar, include jewel like motifs. On each side of the body, four female figures are painted in reserve, against a lustre background, wearing a headdress and a robe decorated with an inverted palmette leaf. Commas and jewel like motifs flank these figures while, on the vertical ridges at the corners of the vessel, friezes of Arabic script (cursive) are contained within vertical bands; all painted in lustre. Glaze runs unevenly over the very lowest part of the body and onto the foot ring. Lustre deteriorated on section of neck, possible due to misfiring. Interior: rim has a concentric band of lustre over a blue glaze that extends over visible sections of the upper body.

Production Place

Iran (potter) (country) ()

Iranian (potter) (nationality) ()

Technique Description

fritware, moulded, covered with slightly pitted white or blue glaze, both crazed and painted with brown lustre

Dimensions

height: (whole): 32.1 cm
width: (whole): 20.6 cm
diameter: (rim): 6.5 cm
diameter: (base): 11.2 cm
weight: (whole): 1295 g

Period

late 12th Century

Date

circa 1179 to 1198

Provenance

bequeathed: Reitlinger, Henry Scipio 1950 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Henry Scipio Reitlinger (d. 1950); Reitlinger Trust, Maidenhead

H. S. Reitlinger Bequest 1950; transferred from the Reitlinger Trust, 1991

Inscriptions/Marks

1. inscription
   Position: corners
   Method: painted in lustre
   Content:
   Description: on the vertical ridges at the corners of the vessel, friezes of script are contained within vertical bands
   Interpretation:
   Language: Persian language but in arabic script (cursive)
   
2. label
   Position: base exterior
   Method: handwritten in purple ink (probably faded from black)
   Content: 538/a
   Description: circular paper label with serrated edge
   Interpretation:
   
3. label
   Position: neck
   Method: handwritten in black ink
   Content: ISCER/641
   Description: rectangular card tie on label attached around the neck with string
   Interpretation: Wendy Rose packing number created when collection moved from Maidenhead
   

Documentation

1. Kelekian, Dikran Khan (1910) The Kelekian Collection of Persian and Analogous Potteries 1885-1910, Paris: Herbert Clarke
   [comments: Cf. similar form and decoration see Plate 15]
2. Bahrami, Mehdi (1949) Gurgan Faiences, Cairo [page: Pl. XCIV]
   [comments: Cf. ridged bottle with Arabic inscriptions, but differs in overall shape and use of colour]
3. Grube, Ernst J. (1994) Cobalt and Lustre: The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery. The Nasser D. Khalili of Islamic Art., Oxford: Oxford University Press [page: 223-4]
   [comments: Cf. moulded lusterware bottles see catalogue numbers 245 and 246]
4. Watson, Oliver (1985) Persian Lustre Ware, London: Faber and Faber Limited [page: 45-67]
   [comments: Cf. moulded lusterware bottle with jewel like motif see catalogue number 30 (p. 63). Ref. on ‘monumental’ style]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.430-1991 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 75062; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)