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A KASHAN MOULDED LUSTRE AND BLUE POTTERY BOWL CENTRAL IRAN, MID 12TH/EARLY 13TH CENTURY

A KASHAN MOULDED LUSTRE AND BLUE POTTERY BOWL CENTRAL IRAN, MID 12TH/EARLY 13TH CENTURY Of rounded form on tall foot, the body moulded with a band of thuluth calligraphy, decorated under the glaze with a faded lustre and cobalt-blue lettering between plain bands, the interior with a heavily-faded lustre pattern enclosing a cobalt-blue and turquoise floral central motif, repaired breaks, small areas of restoration 7 ¼in. (18.4cm.) diam.Excavated Sesuk, 1934Around the exterior, al-‘izz al-da’im wa’l-iqbal al-za’id wa’l-nasr al-ghalib wa’l-ra’y al-thaqib wa’l-jadd al-sa‘id wa’l-dawla wa’l-sa‘ada wa’l-salama fi sana ‘Perpetual glory and increasing prosperity and triumphant victory and penetrating judgement and rising good fortune and wealth and happiness and well-being in year …’Some countries prohibit or restrict the purchase and/or import of Iranian-origin property. Bidders must familiarise themselves with any laws or shipping restrictions that apply to them before bidding on these lots. For example, the USA prohibits dealings in and import of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” (such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments) without an appropriate licence. Christie’s has a general OFAC licence which, subject to compliance with certain conditions, would enable a buyer to import this type of lot into the USA. If you intend to use Christie’s licence, please contact us for further information before you bid.This bowl is unusual both in its form and the style and technique of its decoration. A comparable example is in the British Museum (acc.no. 1912,0607.1). Like ours, the interior is heavily bleached with most of the lustre having come away, leaving the cobalt-blue details against a white ground. It also has around the exterior a calligraphic band, executed in cobalt-blue in a strikingly similar script to that on our example. A further example which was sold Sotheby's London, 25 April 2012, lot 31, has also lost almost all its lustre leaving only blue and turquoise calligraphy and scrollwork around a mounted horse and rider in the centre. Although the script is quite different, much of the content of the inner inscription on that example also matches the exterior inscription on ours. This suggests a shared Kashani origin for the three bowls. It is, however, not moulded in the same way that ours is. For this, there is an impressive - though fragmentary - mina'i jar which was sold in these Rooms, 5 October 2010, lot 108, which is now in the Sarikhani collection (acc.no. I.CE.2223; Oliver Watson, Ceramics of Iran, London, 2020, no.119, p.241). That jar is moulded with a star-lattice pattern and a row of mounted figures, against what appears to be a white ground. Though Watson speculates that this white ground may have been part of the potter's 'original intention', he also publishes alongside it an image of a lustreware jar in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran (acc.no. 3391). That example is decorated heavily with lustre, though in many places - such as around the neck, where there is a moulded cobalt-blue inscription similar to that on our bowl - the lustre has almost entirely faded. Perhaps the instability of the lustre on these examples owes something to the way in which the lustre and mina'i techniques were combined, and may represent a short-lived experimental phase in Kashan ceramics.

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伊斯蘭與印度世界藝術品包括地毯

伊斯蘭與印度世界藝術品包括地毯

2024年04月25日 18:00

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