FINE ABBASID TIN-GLAZED POTTERY BOWL WITH KUFIC INSCRIPTION

Earthenware, the rounded earthenware body covered with an opaque white glaze, Arabic inscription painted in glaze in cobalt blue from right rim towards the centre.

This bowl is an exceptional example of early Islamic tinglazed pottery and epitomises the powerful abstraction of the early Abbasid style. While the shape follows a Chinese prototype, the use of cobalt blue is a novel departure that was to have a profound and long-lasting influence on future ceramics. The application of cobalt directly into the raw glaze creates a soft impression, described by Arthur Lane as “like ink on snow”. Arthur Lane, Early Islamic Pottery, London, 1947, p. 13.

Inscription in Arabic, in kufic script:

هلمع هلمع

Translation:

“What was made, was made.”

An Abbasid bowl bearing the same kufic inscription is published in Oya Pancaroğlu, Perpetual Glory –Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, p. 40 (Catalogue No. 1).

Calligraphy has at all times been one of the major ‘motifs’ of Islamic art and continues to be a primary element of Islamic design both in the formal sense and as means of communication. Calligraphy, as a motif, served both visually with its uniquely Islamic aesthetic and delivered messages as a text; such as good wishes to the owner, poems or pious quotations like verses from the Qur’an or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. In many instances, calligraphic inscriptions, particularly verses from the Qur’an or sayings of the Prophet, are considered as a source of grace and blessing (barakah) as well. In some rare cases, the inscription records the date which allow us to know the piece’s exact date of production. For further information on the use of calligraphy on early Islamic ceramics please see Ernst Grube, Islamic Pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, Faber & Faber, London, 1976, p. 98.

There is a comparable Abbasid opaque white glazed bowl with a similar kufic inscription in cobalt blue in the Khalili Collection (Accession No. POT184), London. Please see, Ernst Grube, Cobalt and Lustre, The Nour Foundation, Ed. Julian Raby, Azimuth Editions, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 45, no. 34. The inscription on the Khalili bowl has been deciphered as ‘Abduhu ‘Abduhu (His [God’s] slave). For more information about such inscriptions on early Islamic pottery please see, Manijeh Bayani, “A Note on the Content and Style of Inscriptions” in Oya Pancaroğlu, Perpetual Glory –Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 154-155.

Provenance: Private UK Collection

Persia

Early 13th Century

Diameter: 22 cm.

Height: 9.5 cm.

KASHAN BOWL DECORATED WITH STYLISED LEAF MOTIFS AND ARABIC POEMS BY AL-IMAM AL-SHAFI (D. 820) AND TARAFAH (D. 569)

Fritware, of shallow form with flaring walls and flattened rim on a low foot, decorated in two shades of underglaze cobalt blue with black under a transparent colourless glaze, with six black ribbon bands radiating outwards from the centre, each with a line of cursive script, the interstices with large palmette motifs formed from split-leaves issuing upwards towards the rim, the back with sprays of waterweed.

Inscriptions

The inscriptions written in six lines, in white, on black bands, are selected verses from classical Arab poetry. They are about the importance of learning and the value of knowledge.

The first four lines are from a poem from the Diwan (collected works) of the famous al-Imam al-Shafi (d. 820 C.E. Please see, Diwan al-Imam al-Shafi, ed. Abd al-Rahman al-Mustawi, Dar al-Ma‘rifat, Beirut, 1426 A.H. / 2005 C.E., p. 94).

Translation

“The days will reveal to you that of which you are ignorant, The one whom you did not provide provisions will bring you news.”

Early 13th century Kashan ceramics are inscribed both in Arabic and Persian. Very few pieces contain only Arabic text. For more information please see, Manijeh Bayani, “A Note on the Content and Style of Inscriptions” in Oya Pancaroğlu, Perpetual Glory – Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, p. 154.

Translation

“Learn, no one is born learned and erudite.

And a brother of knowledge is not like someone who is ignorant. The leader of people who has no knowledge, Becomes a little man if people turn against him.”

The following two lines are from the Diwan of Tarafah ibn al-‘Abd (d. 569). Tarafah is one of the celebrated seven poets (Tarafah ibn al-‘Abd, AlNabigha, Antarah b. Shaddad, Zuhayr b. Abi Sulma, ‘Alqama and Imru al-Qays) of the most celebrated anthology of ancient Arab poetry, the Mu‘allaqat.

Calligraphy has at all times been one of the major ‘motifs’ of Islamic art and continues to be a primary element of Islamic design both in the formal sense and as means of communication. Calligraphy, as a motif, served both visually with its uniquely Islamic aesthetic and delivered messages as a text; such as good wishes to the owner, poems or pious quotations like verses from the Qur’an or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. In many instances, calligraphic inscriptions, particularly verses from the Qur’an or sayings of the Prophet, are considered as a source of grace and blessing (barakah) as well. In some rare cases, the inscription records the date which allow us to know the piece’s exact date of production. For further information on the use of calligraphy on early Islamic ceramics please see Ernst Grube, Islamic Pottery of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, Faber & Faber, London, 1976, p. 98.

A comparable Kashan bowl, with similar decoration and inscriptions, is in the Sarikhani Collection. Please see, Oliver Watson, Ceramics of Iran – Islamic Pottery from the Sarikhani Collection, Yale University Press, London, 2020, p. 301, no. 152. A second very similar Kashan bowl is in the Metropolitan Museum (Acc. No. 20.120.37), New York. Please see the link, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/ collection/search/447151

Provenance: Ex-Matossian Collection

Timurid Empire 15th Century

Diameter: 34 cm.

Height: 10 cm.