of deep form on a low, wide foot, with everted rim, underglaze painted in deep brown and cream with continuous interlocking chains on a densely decorated ground of dots, the underside with repeated abstract spray of leaves
38cm. diam.

Footnotes

Provenance:
Uk private collection formed in the 1950s.

This important Samanid bowl is unusual both for its size and design. The chain-link motif is unparalleled as an all-over design although it is used as the central motif on a striking slip-painted bowl in the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait (inv. no. LNS 872C)(O. Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London 2004, cat. Gb.6). In his comments on this design, Watson notes that a further two bowls with this pattern, one formerly in the Demotte Collection and the other in Japan, represent the output of a yet-discovered kiln possibly in Central Asia, and it is possible the design on our bowl may originate there.

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An unusual large Samanid pottery Bowl Chach, Central Asia, 10th Century

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Matthew Thomas