A large Kashan lustre pottery dish, Persia, circa 1200

of shallow open form with straight flaring sides on a short foot, decorated with a cobalt-stained tin glaze with overglaze lustre with a central six-petalled flowerhead enclosing a seated figure, white ribbon bands radiating outwards each with a line of cursive script, the interstices with paired split-palmette cartouches with plump birds, leaves and scrolls, the rim reserve-decorated with a continuous band of naskh, the back with a broad frieze of hanging chain pattern

Published in 1400 Years of Islamic Art, London 1981, no.113

inscriptions

In the radiating bands:  A Persian quatrain, a couplet from an Arabic quatrain (see: Grube, cat. no. 278 (the last Arabic quatrain); a Persian quatrain (see: Grube, cat. no. 278 (the first Persian quatrain) and benedictory phrases in Arabic.

Round the rim: Two Persian quatrains (see: Grube, cat. no. 278 (the last Persian quatrain and cat. no 275, the first quatrain) an Arabic quatrain (see: Grube, cat. no. 278 (the last Arabic quatrain) and benedictory words in Arabic.