LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE KUBACHI POTTERY BOWL DECORATED WITH A MANGO, FLORAL ELEMENTS AND SPIRALS

Painted in black under a pale turquoise glaze, decorated with a pineapple, floral elements, and an incised pattern of spirals.

This striking turquoise and black bowl belongs to a group of Persian ceramics known as the Kubachi-ware. Kubachi is the name of a town in the Caucasus where examples of this pottery were discovered. As for their centre of production, art-historians have come to the conclusion that Kubachi ceramics were produced in north-western Persia.

Kubachi-ware is made of fritware. Some examples, like the present bowl, feature the graceful combination of turquoise glazes with black figures. This aesthetic appears to be a response to Chinese celadon.

The floral elements on the present piece played an important role in Persian art since flowers were regarded as blessed reminders of the gardens of heaven. In Persian poetry, the rose symbolizes the beloved, hyacinth the beloved’s hair, daffodil the beloved’s eyes, tulip the beloved’s cheeks, jasmine the beloved’s skin. Foreign travellers and ambassadors who visited Persia frequently remarked about this love of flowers. For further information and discussion about the use of floral motifs please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, pp. 174-178.

A very similar Kubachi bowl is in the Metropolitan Museum (Acc. No. 17.120.70), New York. Please see the link, https://www.metmuseum.org/ art/collection/search/446926 In the Metropolitan Museum’s entry, it has been stated that “This bowl is among the earliest examples” of Kubachi-ware.

Provenance: Private UK Collection

Persia

Early 13th Century

Height: 21.3 cm.