amber glazed, of deep rounded form with inverted rim and simple handle with large flaring thumb-rest, moulded to the body with a series of panels containing abstract vegetal motifs interspersed with panels of circle motifs within a diamond grid, the base with concentric bands of stylised flowerheads and circle motifs, the thumb-rest with an interlaced vine with palmettes and split palmettes
19.5 cm. diam.

Footnotes

Vessels and fragments of pottery of this type have been found in a number of early Islamic sites, including Samarra, Susa, Hira, al-Mina and Tarsus, although very few vessels from the group have survived intact. Whilst there is a general consensus of academic opinion to a "probably Mesopotamia" attribution, the lack of kiln sites has made it impossible to be certain. Alternatively, a number of vessels with similar decoration have been attributed to 8th Century Persia, for example, a lobed cup in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (Ernst J.Grube, Cobalt and Lustre, Vol. IX, Oxford, 1994, p. 18, no. 10).

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A large Umayyad/ early Abbasid monochrome moulded-pottery Cup Mesopotamia or Persia, 8th/ 9th Century

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Oliver White