Dish with rosette design. Iran, Kirman (?), mid to late 17th century. Stonepaste with incised design through a blue ground under a transparent, colorless glaze Diam. 42 cm; H. 7.5 cm. Musée du Louvre, Musée des Arts décoratifs deposit, gift of R. Koechlin, 1905 Ucad 11945.

The use of the champlevé technique, in which the motif is carved and literally inscribed into the material, gives life and depth to the decoration. The drawn out rumi palmettes can be compared with the style used by the naqqashkhane, but the composition and the floating effect which is so striking here, have, as far as we know, no equivalent. The dish is decorated with a six-lobed circle, which seemingly quivers under the effect of small wave-forms (two on each lobe except for one which has three) and little pointed white shapes which draw the design outwards. The circle floats impalpably on a medium blue background. Little waves with delicate white stems, each bearing a two-lobed leaf, seem to dance away from the centre in a sinuous line to form a rosette which remains open in its center. The balance between the underlying geometric composition and the palpitating lightness of the vegetal decoration reaches a peak of excellence. The perfectly smooth shape of the dish acts as a foil to the motif; the absence of any relief means that the light can glide over the glaze, conferring an almost ethereal quality to the dish. This masterpiece is one of a small production of ceramics with the decoration incised through the blue slip under a brilliant transparent glaze. None of the pieces are dated, but they resemble a type of more elementary substitute painted in white slip over the colored ground under a transparent glaze. These pieces are attributed to the reign of the Safavid sovereign Shâh Abbâs II. (1642-1666) and it can be assumed that these ceramics with an incised decoration are more or less of the same period.