Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
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Lot 124*
A large Cantonese export porcelain dish made for Zill al-Sultan China, dated AH 129[7]/ AD 1879-80
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A large Cantonese export porcelain dish made for Zill al-Sultan
China, dated AH 129[7]/ AD 1879-80
China, dated AH 129[7]/ AD 1879-80
of shallow rounded form on a short foot, profusely decorated in polychrome enamel and gilt with a central inscription-filled roundel to the well, surrounded by cartouches alternately depicting figural scenes and containing floral sprays with perching birds and butterflies, all on a ground of lotus sprays
36.7 cm. diam.
36.7 cm. diam.
Footnotes
Inscriptions: farmayesh-e hazrat-e as'ad-e amjad-e arfa'-e ashraf-e vala sultan mas'ud mirza yamin al-dawlah zill al-sultan 129[7], 'Commissioned by His Excellency, the most Auspicious, the most Glorious, the Sublime, the most Noble, the Exalted Sultan Mas'ud Mirza Yamin al-Dawlah Zill al-Sultan 129[7] (1879–80)'.
Prince Masoud Mirza Yamin al-Dawla Zill al-Sultan was born to Nasr al-Din Shah as a commoner, therefore not in line to the Qajar throne, which would be inherited by his brother, Muzaffar al-Din. He held the post of governor in various provinces of Persia, including Isfahan, where he was renowned for his cruelty and for the destruction of the extant Safavid palaces. For further information, see M. Bamdad, Dictioinary of Natioinal Biography of Iran, 1700-1900, vol. 4, 1966, pp. 78-100).
For a bowl and dish from the same set in the Chinese Porcelain Company Collection, see Daniel Nadler, 'Chinese export porcelain with Arabic inscriptions', Antiques, March 2000, p. 473, Pl. XVI. For a further dish and bowl sold in these rooms, see Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art including Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, 24 April 2018, lot 236.