COUPE AU PAON

EASTERN IRAN, NISHAPOUR, 10th CENTURY A truncated cone-shaped clay bowl painted in "pseudo-lustre" on beige slip and under transparent glaze, decorated with a peacock holding a long three-lobed finial in its beak. The rim is framed by semi-circles. Stylized flowers and discs on the reverse. A POTTERY BOWL WITH A BIRD. PERSIA, NISHAPUR, 10TH CENTURY H: 8 cm - Ø: 24 cm This dish is part of a group of Nishapur ceramics that attempted to copy the Abbasid lustre ware produced in Iraq in the 10th century. Instead of applying metallic oxides on a white opaque glaze, the potter here painted the decoration with a greenish-brown slip applied on a beige white slip. See Oliver Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, Kuwait National Museum, the al-Sabah Collection, Thames & Hudson, London, 2004, cat. Ge.1, p. 239 for a bowl from the same group depicting a bird holding a finial, and cat. E.15, p. 193 for an Abbasid lustre bowl decorated with a bird. Expert : L.S. Fractured in about ten pieces, small blockages and chips on the rim. Small chips of glaze in places.