A rare and important "Monumental Style" Kashan lustre bowl signed Abu Tahir ibn Muhammad Hamza ibn al-Husyan, Persia, late 12th century

of hemispherical form with slightly inverted rim on a short spreading foot, decorated with inglaze cobalt blue and overglaze brown lustre, the interior with a central roundel filled with arabesques, the cavetto with a broad frieze of kufic reserve-decorated with leaves and scrolls, and a minor band with a parade of birds and the artist's signature and a kufesque band below the rim, the back with a cursive inscription and floral motifs on a blue ground

Published in 1400 Years of Islamic Art, 1981, no.111
Published in O.Watson, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp.52 and 178, fig. 16

inscriptions

In Kufic:

al-'izz wa al-iqbal wa al-dawala [wa] al-ni'ma wa

'Glory and Prosperity and good turn of Fortune and [God's] Grace and'

In the wall in lustre:

'amal abu tahir / bin muhammad hamza bin al-husayn

'Work of Abu Tahir bin Muhammad Hamza bin al-Husyan'

Round the outer wall:  A benedictory couplet in Arabic (not all clear).

Signed pieces of Kashan lustre are extremely rare and this is the only recorded example of signed "Monumental Style" ware.

Only thirteen signed Kashan lustres are recorded by Watson from the pre-Mongol period and no definite examples from the Ilkhanid period (Watson 1985, p.90).  The number of signed lustre pieces in general has been augmented by a handful that have appeared on the market since Watson's publication twenty five years ago, including a bowl signed by Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Hasan al-Muqri sold in these rooms 28 April 2004, lot 85, and now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

The present example is signed by a certain Abu Tahir ibn Muhammad Hamza ibn al-Husyan, "possibly the first recorded member of the Abu Tahir family (Watson 1985, p.52). Fehérvári was the first to suggest "the possibility that the potter was the father of the Kashan lustre tile manufacturer of the early 13th century, Muhammad ibn Abu Tahir ibn Abi'l-Husayn." (1400 Years of Islamic Art ,1981, p.174).