An important Kashan Mina'i and Lustre Bowl depicting a falconer on horseback signed by the artist Muqri, Persia, AD 1200-1220

of deep rounded form on an everted foot, with lustre and hues of cobalt blue and turquoise, the interior decorated with an exquisite line drawing of a horse and falconer with an elaborate dress detailed in blue patterns, a Kufic inscription around inner rim, a Persian quatrain and Arabic couplet inscribed around the outer rim, the outer walls with four bilaterally-symmetrical paired leaf and scroll motifs in blue and further scrolls painted in lustre

Perpetual Glory, Medieval Islamic Ceramics From The Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2007.

O. Pancaroglu, Perpetual Glory, Medieval Islamic Ceramics From The Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2007, pp.148-149, no.96

Overall fair condition, broken but complete, restored from fragments with associated overpainting, fading of colour on the horse, falcon, and face of mina'i falconer, slight abrasions and craquelure, as viewed
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

inscriptions

Around the inner rim, in Kufic:
al-'izz al-da'im wa al-iqbal al-za'id wa al-nasr al-ghalib wa al-'afw al-wa'im wa al-dawala wa al-sa'ada wa al-salama wa al-kirama wa al-birr wa al-daw[la]
'Perpetual glory and increasing prosperity and triumphant victory and durable forgiveness and turn of good fortune and happiness and well-being and generosity and piety and wealth...'

Inscriptions around the outer rim include a Persian quatrain, an Arabic couplet and a signature:
del bande-ye 'asheqi tan azad che-sud?
vasl-e to cho 'omr raft bar bad che-sud?
[faryad kona]m (?) ze 'eshq-e to valik
faryad rasam cho nist faryad che-sud?
'What is the use of a free body if [my] heart is enslaved in your love.
What a shame that union with you has perished like my life.
I call for help for your love, but
What is the use of crying for help if there is no one who will help.'

ta'alim qawam al-khatt ya dha'l-ta'adub
fa-ma al-khatt illa zinat al-muta'addib
'Learn the art of writing, O you of good breeding,
For writing is an adornment of the well-bred.'

The Arabic couplet is a saying attributed to 'Ali, see, Qadi Mir Ahman Munshi Qumi, Golestan-e Honar, edited by A. Soheyli-Khwansari, Tehran, 1352 AH/ 1973 AD, p.10.

Signed as:
katabahu muqri
'Muqri wrote it.'