Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets

A large dish with a peacock, Persia, probably Kashan, late 12th century

Auction Closed

March 30, 12:47 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

of rounded form, the fritware body with carved decoration and blue colouring under a transparent glaze

35.3cm. diam.

Please note that there may be restrictions on the import of property of Iranian origin into the USA and some or all member countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council. Any buyers planning to import property of Iranian origin into any of these countries should satisfy themselves of the relevent import regime. Sotheby's will not assist buyers with the shipment of such items into the USA or the GCC. In addition, FedEx and US courier services will no longer carry Iranian-origin goods to any location. Any shipment services would need to be provided by a Fine Art shipping company.

Georges Demotte (1877-1923) (label on underside).
Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, Paris.

P. Ackerman, Guide to the Exhibition of Persian Art, New York, 1940, p.459, Z.
A. Welch, Collection of Islamic art, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, 4 vols, Geneva, 1972-78, vol.II, no.P.43.
N. Dürr & J. Croisier, Céramiques Islamiques dans les collections Genevoises, catalogue of an exhibition at the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, 1981, no.55.
T. Falk (ed.), Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, p.225, no.223.

Exhibition of Persian Art, The Iranian Institute, New York, 1940, Gallery XIV, Z.
Treasures of Islam, Musée Rath, Geneva, 25 June-27 October 1985.

This magnificent dish is a masterpiece of pre-Mongol ceramics. The surface has been finely carved and the only colour used to decorate part of the roundel is a deep cobalt blue. The decoration consists of a peacock encircled in a roundel filled with interlacing scrolls, with a band of entwining palmettes in the outer border.

The technique of carving decoration directly on the body was inspired by contemporaneous Chinese wares. Produced during the Song dynasty, such proto-porcelains are plain in colour, usually white and decorated with carved floral scrolls and sprays. See for example a bowl, attributed to the Song/Yuan dynasty and dated to the twelfth century, made of white porcelain with a carved spray of a peony and leaves, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, inv. no.64.847 (published in Carswell 1985, p.59, no.5); or a dish, attributed to the Northern Song dynasty, made of stoneware with carved lotus under an ivory glaze, now in the Benaki Museum, Athens, inv. no.2372 (published in Manginis 2016, p.100, no.61).

This technique was particularly admired by Persian potters, who imitated it, creating plain white wares with incised or relief decoration. See, for example, a white bowl and a bottle, both with decoration in relief and carved under a transparent glaze, attributed to Afghanistan and dated to the late twelfth century (now in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, inv. nos.LNS 788 and LNS 1096 C, published in Watson 2004, pp.309-311, nos.L.5,L.8). Alongside imitating Chinese production, the potters also experimented with adding colour, an innovation visible in the current dish, which has a splash of cobalt blue on the wing and tail of the peacock. Another bowl which presents the same combination of carving and blue under a transparent glaze is now in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, inv. no.LNS 852 C (published in Watson 2014, p.312, no.L.9).