CENTRAL IRAN, SECOND HALF 13TH CENTURY

The entire surface of this unusual ewer clearly shows traces of overglaze enamels and gilding. The designs are clearly visible in the right light, and include inscriptions as well as floral and arabesque decoration. The inscriptions contain Persian verses but are not fully legible. The decoration is very similar to that found more frequently on cobalt-blue glazed "lajvardina" vessels such as a jug with panelled body outlined in underglaze black in the Ashmolean Museum (Alan Caiger-Smith, Lustre Pottery, London, 1985, pl.XIV, facing p.80). A closely related bowl now in the same museum shows a very similar feature (Géza Fehérvári, Islamic Pottery, a Comprehensive Study based on the Barlow Collection, London, 1973, no.,116, p.97 and pl.50b). Similar effects, with greater amounts of enamel remaining, can be seen in two bowls formerly in the Jean-Paul Croisier Collection (Jeanne Mouliérac, Céramiques du monde musulman, Paris, 1999, pp.48 and 119). The second of these bowls, now in the Plotnick Collection, has figural designs and similar floral forms to those found here (Oya Pancaroglu, Perpetual Glory, New Haven and London, 2007, no.70, pp.112-3). The Paris catalogue notes that this bowl is dated AH 582-3/1186-7 AD and possibly signed by Abu Zaid, both of which suggestions are omitted in the more recent publication. Please see also lot 88.