Nishapur, Iran
10th or 11th century AD
earthenware, slip-painted under a colourless lead glaze
13.4 x 39.4cm
The colouring of this large, deep bowl –a dark brown slip against a yellowish-white ground – indicates that the potter wished to imitate the effect of monochrome lustre. The design, however, is far removed from Abbasid models, for the plump birds, with their large leaf-shaped wings, were an invention of Khurasani potters.
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.86, pp.92–3.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.36, p.51.