Enrica Medugno
Sale Coordinator
Lot 42R
A Safavid underglaze-painted pottery dish for the Armenian market Persia, probably Isfahan, late 17th/ early 18th Century
14 November 2023, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Matthew Thomas
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A Safavid underglaze-painted pottery dish for the Armenian market
Persia, probably Isfahan, late 17th/ early 18th Century
Persia, probably Isfahan, late 17th/ early 18th Century
of shallow rounded form with an everted rim on a short foot, decorated in cobalt blue on a white ground with a central floral motif surrounded by a band of scrollwork and four teardrop motifs filled with scrollwork and bordered with dots, the exterior with four fans and ribbons between linear bands
22.9 cm. diam.
22.9 cm. diam.
Footnotes
Yolande Crowe suggests that pottery vessels featuring similar decorative schemes as that found on the present lot are linked to New Julfa, the Armenian quarter of Isfahan (see Y. Crowe, 'The Safavid Potter at the Crossroad of Styles', in W. Floor & E. Herzig (ed.), Iran and the World in the Safavid Age, London, 2012, pp. 407-424). Crowe also argues that the teardrop motifs appear to reproduce Chinese kangxi cone shapes. For further examples and discussion, see Y. Crowe, Persia and China: Safavid Blue and White Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum 1501-1738, Geneva, 2002, pp. 202-206. A very similar dish is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Accession Number 1166-1876). Pottery featuring similar decoration to the present lot are also known to sometimes feature Armenian monograms, as demonstrated in a blue and white underglaze-painted vessel dated to the 17th Century in the collection of the same museum (Accession Number 1248-1876).
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