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.