NORTH EAST IRAN, 13TH CENTURY

Although a number of these small dishes are known, their purpose is not clear. One has been displayed as the cover to a bowl, whose decoration it very closely resembles, but which did not arrive with the bowl (Chevaux et Cavaliers arabes, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2002, no.157, p.187). In his discussion of an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Melikian-Chirvani suggests that they are not covers of jugs, since that form is known, but cannot suggest another use (A.S.Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th Centuries, London, 1982, no.49, pp.121-2). An unusually fine example with traces of gold inlay was sold in these Rooms 17 April 2007, lot 74.