A Safavid-style pottery plate, France, 19th century

Painted in underglaze cobalt blue, this plate imitates the palette and aesthetic of seventeenth-century Persian ceramics. At the centre, a large roundel encloses a stylised animal, a fantastical beast, is set within a dense vegetal landscape of scrolling foliage and rockwork.

The plate stands as an example of cross-cultural revivalism, in which French artisans reinterpreted Safavid designs that were themselves originally inspired by Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. The plate thus represents a layered artistic dialogue, consciously echoing Persian models - such as a comparable Safavid example sold in these rooms, London, 23 October 2019, lot 228 - while translating them through the materials, techniques, and sensibilities of nineteenth-century France.