of inverted pear-shaped form with short cylindrical neck and everted rim, decorated in cobalt-blue, black and red on a white ground, the body with a bold frieze of chevron bands joined by fine vertical lines with dot motifs, the shoulder with a band of chain motif, the neck with further chevron band, areas of iridescence, the base with fragmentary inventory labels
20.8 cm. high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private collection;
Acquired Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 25th April 2002, lot 76.

This Raqqa jar is unusual for its decorative scheme and is one of the best examples of a taste for abstract motifs in the repertoire of Raqqa pottery. This tendency can be seen on a jar in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery, London, 1951, pl. 80a); and also on a jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Marilyn Jenkins, Islamic Pottery, New York, 1983, p. 21, no. 21), which shares the same palette of cobalt-blue, red and black.

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A fine and rare Raqqa underglaze-painted pottery Jar Syria, 13th Century

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Oliver White