A large Aghkand pottery Dish
Persia, 12th Century
Persia, 12th Century
with sloping rim on short foot, the slip-painted white ground incised through to the red body with a large central figure of a stylised bird on a ground of scrolling arabesque tendrils, decorated in manganese, green and mustard-yellow glazes, the rim with a border of zig-zag panels with a triple dot and larger circular motif, the exterior unglazed, repaired breaks
30.8 cm. diam.
30.8 cm. diam.
Sold for
£6,000
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance: Private US collection, acquired Christie's, Islamic Art and Manuscripts, 1st May 2001, lot 256.
This dish is a typical example of the sgraffiato technique, which was used widely in the 12th and 13th Centuries. Although sgraffiato wares have been found in Anatolia, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Persia, the majority pf pieces are said to come from Aghkand, near Tabriz. Like their Syrian counterparts, lakabi wares, Aghkand pottery is often decorated with single animals placed on against a floral arabesque background. For another dish depicting a bird formerly in the Kelekian Collection and now in the Freer Gallery of Art, see Esin Atil, Freer Gallery of Art Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition. III Ceramics from the World of Islam, Washington, 1973, pp. 48-9, no. 18; and for a dish with related border, see ibid., pp. 50-1, no. 19.
Category: Islamic and Oriental Art / Islamic and Indian Art
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