A lustre-painted bowl with stellar ornament

A magnificent example of Kashan lusterware pottery, this conical bowl is beautifully fired to a sumptuous, golden-hued coppery brown finish that glistens and dances with reflected light. In his famous and much-quoted treatise on the practices of lusterware workshops of medieval Kashan of 700 AH/1301 AD, the Persian craftsman and author Abu'l-Qasim writes that the twice-fired lustre ceramics that emerged from the kilns of the Kashan potters shone ‘like the light of the sun’. With its central sun-like, stellar orb motif and emanating ‘ray’ motifs, the decoration of this bowl encapsulates the very idea of lustre-painted pottery’s alchemical and luminous properties.

For the full description of this object, please click here to download the PDF catalogue of the exhibition 'The World in Your Hands: Five Lustre-Painted Bowls from Kashan'.