Bowl with Lustre Decoration

Location: Iraq

Materials: buff-bodied earthenware, with monochrome lustre decoration over an opaque white glaze

Dimensions: 8 x 26cm

Accession Number: POT 1580

Other Notes:

Like the golden lustre, the decoration, with alternating panels of birds and palmettes, is a deliberate reminiscence of vessels made in precious metal for the Abbasid court under the influence of the revival there of Sasanian ceremonial and iconography. The birds with buds in their beaks and royal streamers are common motifs on silver, both Sasanian and post-Sasanian, while the dotted ground of the palmettes accurately renders the ringmatting of early Islamic silverware.

Bibliography:

E.J. Grube et al, Cobalt and Lustre. The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume IX, London 1994, cat.25, p.38.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.29, p.49.