An exceptional condition ceramic bowl with black and red on creamy white glaze, dating 9th-10th. cent. A.D. Ceramic bowl, Earthenware, engobe, under glaze slip-painted. The glaze is a complete mulitude of small crackles. Bowls including bold black inscriptions in the so-called kufic angular calligraphy were produced in the important ceramic centers of Nishapur in eastern Iran. The text often contains a proverb in Arabic or a series of wishes. This bowl, which was used to serve food, is one of the most accomplished works of the type, with artistic calligraphy. The bowl represents the first revival of the traditional art due to the rise of the native Islamic dynasty of the Samanids. A most important bowl that shows the true glory of the simple artful style that owes much to the Sassanian art and to the earlier cultures of the Iran. Size: 320 mm. wide and c. 115 mm. high. Condition: Choice! Minor restoration for type and period, much original surface.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East