An important Samanid slip-painted pottery calligraphic Bowl - Persia, 10th Century

with wide flaring sides painted in manganese black with a central bold dot and kufic inscriptions, all on a white ground  35.1 cm diam. -
Estimate: £20,000 - 30,000

Provenance: Kevorkian Collection, Paris, acquired 1962.

Exhibited: L’Art Iranien dans les Collections Belges, Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels, 10th November until 19th December 1971.
Exposition de L’Art ancien de L’Iran et son Rayonnement a Braine L’Alleud, Maison Communale, Braine L'Alleud, 31st August to 16th September 1973.
Naissance et Evolution de L'Ecriture, Société Générale de Banque, Brussels, 8th November 1984 to 3rd January 1985 and Banque Générale du Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 16th January to 6th March 1985.

Note: The inscription probably reads: 'Deliberation (shows) noble opeinion. A very rich creator is the one who is guided well'.

This bowl is unusual for both its size and completeness, and the stark simplicity of the black calligraphy on a crisp white background brings to mind Lane's saying that "their beauty is of the highest intellectual order; they hold the essence of Islam undiluted." See Arthur Lane Early Islamic pottery, London 1947, p.18 For a very similar piece, see Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 18th April 2007, lot 47.

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Bonhams. The Jacques Desenfans Collection, 10 Apr 2008. New Bond Street