Title: Bowl with Inscription
Location: Afrasiyab (old Samarkand), Central Asia
Materials: earthenware, painted with red and purplish-black slips under a colourless glaze
Dimensions: 4.8 x 14.5cm
Accession Number: POT 686
Other Notes:
The inscription, which is in a handsome book hand of about a century earlier reads,barakah li-sahibihi (‘Blessing to its owner’). Its distinction lies in the fact that it is written in irregular compartments defined by small irregularly-shaped dotted panels. These ‘clouds’ were later adopted in Qur’anic illumination and, subsequently, became almost standard in the layout of the holy text.
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.70, p.80.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.39, pp.52–3.
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