A fine dated Kashan lustre bowl, Persia, dated Shawwal 607/ March-April 1211

of truncated conical form with flaring walls stepped down to a straight vertical foot, painted in lustre, the interior well with a scroll-filled roundel encircled by a band of nashki script in reserve, the cavetto with four roundels filled with dot and feather motif, against a scroll-ground with monumental kufesque calligraphy, the rim with nashki script on a solid lustre ground, the exterior with another naskhi inscription bordered by two lustre bands, the base with two labels, the first un-deciphered the other printed and inscribed with '6-207.Gurgan/ Warren E Cox/ Collection/ New York/ 607 AH / 1210 AD'

Warren E. Cox Collection, New York, 6.-207 (label on reverse)

inscriptions

Round the inner rim:

A Persian quatrain followed by :

fi shawwal sana sab’a (or tis’a) wa sittami’a al-baqa li-sahibihi

‘In Shawwal the year six hundred and seven (March-April 1211) (or six hundred and nine / February-March 1213).  Long-life to its owner’

For a similar quatrain, see: E. Grube, Cobalt and Lustre, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. IX, 1994, p. 335, cat. 275 (first quatrain).

Round the inner base:

Persian benedictory couplet, followed by a date:

‘Year six hundred and seven (A.D. 1211)' [or possibly 'six hundred and nine' (A.D. 1213)]

For a similar couplet see: E. Grube, Cobalt and Lustre, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. IX, 1994, p. 333, cat. 214 (last couplet).

Round outer wall, in lustre: Persian verses (not all deciphered)