14.
A Kashan lustre pottery bowl
Persia, early thirteenth century
Of deep rounded form on a high foot, depicting two seated figures playing a harp and a tambourine flanking a cypress tree, a row of stylised kufic and another of cursive script encircle the inner rim, scrolls of foliage decorate the exterior
18.7 cm., 7 7/8 in. diameter
9.7 cm., 3 ¾ in. height
Inscriptions
Both the border inscriptions and that on the tambourine are indecipherable.
Provenance
Croisier Collection, Switzerland, formed in the 1950s-70s, from which Mr. Plotnik purchased 45 pieces (see Pancaroglu, pp. 11-12)
Harvey Plotnik, Chicago, c. 2000-2013: Sotheby’s, London, 24 April 2013, lot 171
Private collection, London, 2013-2021
Exhibited
Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, 1990s
‘Perpetual Glory, Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection’, Art Institute of Chicago, 2007
Published
O. Pancaroglu, Perpetual Glory, Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnik Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2007, p.131, no. 84.
