Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 27
An early Islamic monochrome pottery Ewer Mesopotamia, 8th Century
8 April 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £7,000
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An early Islamic monochrome pottery Ewer
Mesopotamia, 8th Century
Mesopotamia, 8th Century
of inverted pear shape form, with tapering neck, on a short foot, straight strap handle with thumb rest, the spout in the form of an animal head, the body with applied decoration comprising confronting quadrupeds flanking a vertical rope pattern with circular motifs on either side, all under a green glaze
31.5 cm. high
31.5 cm. high
Footnotes
The relief animals are probably inspired by an earlier and ongoing tradition of decorative cast or repoussé on metal objects. This type of glazed ware is a progression from a group of known unglazed earthen ware objects of similar form. Elaborately decorated, unglazed, moulded wares had been a standard product in the pre-Islamic provinces of both the Sassanian and Byzantine worlds. The application of a glaze added a rich colour and a glossy finish to these wares, which could be used to suggest metal or glass.
A similar example can be found in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait (Oliver Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London, 2004, p. 161, Cat. Bb.1). Watson mentions two similar pieces: a bottle in the Keir Collection, which has a short stubby neck (Ernst J. Grube, Islamic pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976, p. 27, no. 1); and a jug in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (Ernst J. Grube, Cobalt and Lustre, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol. IX, Oxford, 1994, pp.20-21, no.1).
Watson speculates that these ceramics were part of the earliest spread of glazing technology to areas where before only unglazed wares had been made, but exactly where cannot be identified at present (Watson 1994, p. 161). For an example of an unglazed jar with applied animal decoration in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, see ibid., p. 96, Cat. Aa.2.