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	bowl
School/Style	Seljuk Monumental style
Description	Fritware with blue and white glazes and lustre painted decoration Buff fritware, wheel thrown, with painted yellow-brown lustre decoration over an opaque white, crazed glaze on the interior and a blue crazed glaze on the exterior. Shape: cono-segmental bowl with plain rim sitting on a low foot ring. Interior: rim is decorated with a band of lustre above a radiating frieze of three fleshy arabesques. These are separated by a ‘Y’ shaped band, delineated by single lines, enclosing dense scrolling vegetation. The glazed is pooled slightly in the base creating a greenish tinge and a light blue wash runs from the rim, probably from the external glaze colour. Exterior: rim has a small band of lustre and a frieze of Arabic script (probably cursive) the latter lightly painted in a free hand on the upper body. The vessel body is coated with a blue glaze which runs unevenly over the foot ring.
Production Place	Iran (potter) (country) () Iranian (nationality) ()
Technique Description	Buff fritware, wheel thrown, with painted yellow-brown lustre decoration over a clear, crazed glaze on the interior and a blue crazed glaze on the exterior
Dimensions	height: (whole): 6.3 cm width: (whole): 14.5 cm diameter: (rim): 14.5 cm diameter: (base): 4.7 cm weight: (whole): 175 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	inscription Position: exterior upper body Method: painted in lustre Content: Description: frieze of script lightly painted in a free hand on the upper body Interpretation: Language: arabic (cursive) label Position: loose Method: hand written in black ink Content: ISCER/637 Description: Rectangular card tie on label with a string and sticky label attached Interpretation: Wendy Rose packing number created when the collection was moved from Maidenhead
Documentation	Watson, Oliver (1985) Persian Lustre Ware, London: Faber and Faber Limited [page: 45-67] [comments: Cf. similar exterior decoration (except for crescent shapes on the rim) see catalogue number 20a (p. 57) and for similar arabesques see catalogue number 13 (p. 53). C/F form type in figure 2 (p. 50). Also for general Ref. on monumental style] 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. identical vessel form and similar decorative theme on interior see catalogue number 157 (p. 165). Also see for Ref. on Iranian lustre wares]
Other Notes
Accession Number	C.444-1991 (Applied Arts) (Reference Number: 75122; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)

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