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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

Il-Khanid

Description

fritware with carved exterior and a white glaze; blue and lustre paint

Pinkish fritware, wheel thrown, with a lightly carved exterior and blue paint under a white glaze decorated with brown lustre. Shape: hemispherical bowl with plain rim and small, low foot ring. Exterior has lightly carved panels emphasised by a painted petal design. Interior: radiating pattern with alternating panels of floral designs and inter-locking ‘S’ shaped motifs against a background of spiral irregular shapes. These panels are separated by blue painted vertical lines; a similar concentric line decorates the rim. Exterior: blue paint on the rim continues. The body is decorated with lotus petals which radiate from the base and alternately contain Arabic script (cursive) or a combination of scrolls and horizontal lines. The glaze runs onto the upper area of the foot ring where it has an uneven brownish tinge from lustre decoration.

Production Place

Iran (potter) (country) ()

Iranian (potter) (nationality) ()

Technique Description

Pinkish fritware, wheel thrown, with a lightly carved exterior and blue paint under a white glaze decorated with brown lustre

Dimensions

height: (whole): 9.8 cm
width: (whole): 21.7 cm
diameter: (rim): 21.6 cm
diameter: (base): 6.5 cm
weight: (whole): 455 g

Period

later 13th century

Date

circa 1260 to 1280

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: exterior body
   Method: painted in lustre
   Description: lotus petals which radiate from the base and alternately contain script
   Interpretation: Persian language with arabic script (cursive)
   

Documentation

1. Watson, Oliver (1985) Persian Lustre Ware, London: Faber and Faber Limited [page: 110-116]
   [comments: Cf. for similar decoration of exterior catalogue number 88 (p. 111) and for interior ‘S’ shaped motif see catalogue number 94 (p. 115). Ref. on Il-Khanid lustre]
2. Soustiel, J. (1985) La Céramique Islamique, Colmar, Paris: Office de Livre Éditions Vilo [page: 217]
   [comments: Cf. similar vessel and decoration with radiating panels on interior (including ‘S’ shaped motif) and lotus petal exterior see catalogue number 243]
3. Komaroff, Linda (2002) The legacy of Genghis Khan : courtly art and culture in western Asia, 1256-1353, London / New York: Yale University Press [page: 198-202]
   [comments: Ref. on ceramics produced after the Mongol invasions]
4. Mason, Robert, B. (2004) Shine Like the Sun: Lustre-Painted and Associated Pottery from the Medieval Middle East, California: Maznda Publications [page: 151, 153]
   [comments: Cf. for floral motif on radiating panels see Motif KL.41, for radiating petal motif on exterior see Motif KL.39 (both p. 151) and for vessel shape see figure 6.9, ASH.62 (p. 153)]

Other Notes

Similar bowl in Victoria and Albert Museum, number C.1955-1910, accessible through http://collections.vam.ac.uk/objectid/O85371

Accession Number

C.453-1991 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 75160; Input Date: 2004-03-11 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)