A Lajvardinia pottery albarello and cover, Persia, circa 1300

of waisted cylindrical form on a narrow splayed base with short gently sloping shoulder and tapering neck with everted rim, the domed cover with broad base and fluted knop finial, painted in underglaze cobalt blue with overglaze decoration in gold, white and red, the body with four panels each with major and minor roundels with pear borders enclosing stellar motifs reserved against a foliate scroll ground, the underbelly with fluted patterning, the shoulder, neck and cover with quatrefoils and palmette arcade reserved on a blue and scroll ground

Lajvardina wares derived their name from lajvard which is Persian for lapis lazuli. These distinctive wares were a continuation of the earlier minai technique and are described in Abu'l Qasim's treatise. The only dated example is a tile formerly in Richard Ettinghausen's collection with the date 1315. For a discussion of Lajvardina wares see Grube 1976, p.256.

A comparable albarello, displaying a similar pattern of roundels and rosettes, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (C.53-1910). A further Lajvardina albarello similar to the present example can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (57.61.12a,b).