Bowl with the Figure of a Seated Prince

Location: Nishapur, Iran

Materials: fine earthenware, slip painted under a colourless glaze

Dimensions: 10.8 x 36.5cm

Accession Number: POT 99

Other Notes:

The centre of the bowl is dominated by the monumental, heavily stylized figure of a seated prince, seen head on. A bird is perched on his left wrist and he is flanked by a hunting dog trailing a palmette and a small feline, perhaps a lynx. The composition and the dotting, which is reminiscent of the ring matting of silver and of high-tin bronzes, are plainly based upon Sasanian silver dishes showing princes with animals of the chase, which were revived under the Abbasids and, especially, under the Buyids (945–1041) in western Iran. 

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.36, pp.46 and 48.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.32, p.50.