The Fitzwilliam Museum : Lustreware in the Fitzwilliam

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Maker/s	Unknown (potter)
Collection	Henry Scipio Reitlinger
Category	fritware/stonepaste Islamic pottery (sub-category)lustreware (sub-category)
Name	dish
School/Style	Seljuk miniature style
Description	Fritware with white glaze painted in lustre Buff fritware dish, wheel thrown, with an opaque white, slightly crazed glaze and yellow-brown lustre painted decoration. Shape: dish with a flange rim and a low foot ring Interior: a concentric band covers the rim, below a frieze of pseudo-calligraphy comprising vertical lines and dots interspersed with spirals. The central decoration comprises a dog and mounted horse whose harness is decorated with a peacock’s eye pattern and blanket is decorated with scrolls. The horse rider wears a headdress and a tunic decorated with spirals over trousers with a pattern of triangular dots. Both the body of the horse, and dog, are covered with large dots and small dashes. Scrolling vegetation, including solid palmettes, decorate the background. All decoration is painted in lustre. Exterior: on the body, a frieze of simple repeating arabesques, painted with a single stroke, are separated by pairs of vertical lines and enclosed by concentric lines. Both are painted in lustre. Glaze runs over the body to a point just above or just below the start of the foot ring.
Production Place	Iran (potter) (country) () Iranian (potter) (nationality) ()
Technique Description	Buff fritware, wheel thrown, with an opaque white, slightly crazed glaze and yellow-brown lustre painted decoration
Dimensions	height: (whole): 5.7 cm width: (whole): 23 cm diameter: (rim): 23 cm diameter: (base): 9.2 cm weight: (whole): 407 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
Documentation	Sotheby's (1986) Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles, London [page: 20] 15 October 1986) [comments: Publ. lot 95, withdrawn. Estimate £300-500] Lane, Arthur (1947) Early Islamic Pottery, London: Faber and Faber [comments: Cf. similar decorative theme but in monumental style see catalogue 52C and 53C] Watson, Oliver (1985) Persian Lustre Ware, London: Faber and Faber Limited [page: 50, 68-85] [comments: Cf. closest parallels catalogue number 48 and 50 (p. 78-9) which have calligraphic band around upper body then dominated by figures painted in lustre. Cf. vessel form, figure 1 (p. 50), supposedly a monumental style but used here for a miniature design. See also for Ref. on miniature style] Watson, Oliver (2004) Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London: Thames & Hudson [page: 368] [comments: Cf. closest parallel in Minai ware see Cat. P.3]
Other Notes
Accession Number	C.433-1991 (Applied Arts) (Reference Number: 75082; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)

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