An Ilkhanid slip-painted bowl, Persia, circa 1300

of deep rounded 'lotus bowl' form, decorated in underglaze blue and black outlines with a chinoiserie design of phoenix circling around a central pearl motif reserved on a ground of lotus flowers and foliage, the back with vegetal and floral motifs

Comparable examples of 'Sultanabad' bowls painted with flying birds are to be found in the Reitlinger Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (London 1976, p.250, no.365; and Allan 1991, no.19). The design of flying phoenixes has its origins in Chinese luxury textiles traded along the Silk Road during the period of the 'Pax Mongolica' in the late 13th/early 14th century.