SAVEH OR RAYY, CENTRAL IRAN, 12TH CENTURY

This impressively large jug features an unusually broad band of powerfully-rendered moulded decoration across the body. Amongst a dense ground of scrolling vines issuing large palmettes and smaller split palmettes walk fantastical beasts. Although now fragmentary we can see the body of what appears to be a winged horse with a spotted coat, nearby the back legs of another horse-like creature propel it skywards. These creatures may be griffins which were a popular motif in the Seljuk period and feature on a very large moulded turquoise-glazed pottery jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no. 39.189). However, in comparison to the rigid repeating frieze found on the Metropolitan Museum jar, the present lot exhibits drawing of far greater freedom and expression more akin to that found in contemporary mina’i and lusterwares or even manuscript painting.

Moulded vessels such as this were created out of two horizontally-joined hemispheres. It required great skill and artistry both on the part of the mould maker, who designed and produced the upper section, and the potter, who turned the lower part on a wheel. It is rare to find examples of turquoise-glazed pottery on this scale. One was sold in these Rooms 23 April 2002, lot 156 whilst a cobalt-blue moulded storage jar decorated with sphinxes was sold in these Rooms 27 October 2022, lot 35.