A Fine Minai Pottery Bowl, Persia, 13th century

of truncated conical form stepped down to a straight vertical foot, decorated into and over the glaze with the full haft rang palette including blue, turquoise, red, brown and black outline with a central medallion of a pair of courtly figures seated facing inwards, the border with a continuous frieze of equestrian figures hunting with one haloed figure standing with a background of foliage painted in raised slip with surface gilding, the back with stylised palmettes set in shaped cartouches with knotted and interlaced frames

breaks and reapirs with associated touching up along the breaks, as viewed
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This bowl exhibits some of the most ambitious techniques developed by the minai potters: the use of gilding and relief work not seen prior to the 12th century in the Islamic world is in evidence here with raised vegetal motifs and traces of gilding incorporated into the decorative vocabulary.

The advent of overglaze enamelled decoration in the late-12th century saw a transformation of the traditionally limited ceramic colour palette. Where once the range was restricted, potters began to apply enamels in black, red, blues, greens and purples, as well as experimenting with the aforementioned gilding and reliefwork. As a result the artist could produce detailed narrative scenes that are arguably more evocative than those previously seen on Islamic ceramics. The minai masters were the self-same potters who worked on lustreware of the 12th and 13th centuries, and as a result both techniques share certain features both technically, such as their second firing, and in their decoration, such as the moon-faced figural type.

The decorative elements of minai ware are thought to originate in textile patterns and book illustrations and the repeated riders around the interior walls and the opposing figures in similar poses applied to the well reinforce this theory. However, the two central figures appear to be reacting to each other in a relatively dynamic fashion, with the blue robed figure gesturing towards the other in a conversational way. This suggestion of activity combined with the relief work and gilding distinguish this bowl from other more mundane examples of the minai school.