1 / 2
Premium MILLON
30
-
Beautiful mina'i bowl with a reigning prince
Iran, Rey or Ka…
See original version (French)
30
-
Beautiful mina'i bowl with a reigning prince
Iran, Rey or Ka…
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Beautiful mina'i bowl with a reigning prince
Iran, Rey or Kashan, late 12th - early 13th century
A truncated cone with flaring sides on a small ring foot, made of siliceous ceramic (fritware) covered with a cream slip and painted in polychrome using the mina'i process. A prince is shown seated in majesty, frontal, in cobalt blue and turquoise robes, wearing a high crown; he is flanked by two standing courtiers and birds facing each other. The wall is decorated with numerous figures. The inner border is decorated with a reserved pseudo-kufic frieze on a cobalt background; the outer lip bears a long votive frieze in manganese brown kufic on a cream background.
Condition: broken and stuck, old restorations.
H. 9 x D. 21.5 cm (3.5 x 8.5 in.)
Provenance :
Private collection of Mr A., Paris. acquired from Galerie Brimo de Laroussilhe, 1985.
At the heart of the basin, the prince seated in majesty embodies courtly authority, flanked by his servants and courtiers.
The mina'i, or haftrang ("seven colours") technique, perfected in the workshops of Kashan and Rey from the 1180s onwards, represents one of the technical peaks of medieval Islamic ceramics and one of its most expensive productions: its refinement reserved it for elite, princely or aristocratic commissions. Production was brutally interrupted between 1220 and 1230 by the Mongol invasions, which devastated the great Seljuk capitals and dismantled their workshops; the surviving mina'i bowls thus cover barely half a century of production, making them one of the most precious and fragile markers of Seljuk art.
A mina'i bowl, fritware decorated in overglaze polychrome enamels depicting a prince enthroned in majesty, flanked by attendants; the exterior with a continuous Kufic votive band, Iran, Rayy or Kashan, late 12th - early 13th century.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like