Flask with music scene. Iran, c. 1640-1665.

Stonepaste, with molded decoration under a colored glaze H. 22.5 cm; W. 9.8 cm Musée du Louvre, gift of Louis Hugot, 1924 OA 7780. 

This flask is one of a number of bottles with a flat face and trefoil sides constituting the most common category of pieces in a series of ceramics with a molded decoration – a series which possibly originated during the reign of Shâh Abbâs and developed under his successors. The Louvre flask originally had a short tubular neck. The trefoil sides display imbricated trilobed flower motifs, a design frequently employed in the ornamentation of metal and ceramic vessels as well as in the borders of carpets and ceramic architectural decoration, and on other media. On one side of the flask a young woman is shown kneeling; she raises one knee very slightly, presses her cheek against the edge of the tambourine, and seems to be listening to the delicate vibration of the instrument beneath her fingers. Her loose belt accentuates the roundness of her body, a type of beauty that became fashionable during the reign of Shâh Abbâs I. Flowers form a fanciful crown around her. The other side of the flask is decorated with a young woman dancing to the sound of music. An elegant young man, who appears to be about to raise a cup to his lips, sits on his heels and watches her. Like a symbol of eternal spring, a flowering tree bends its branches over the couple. These images, which bring together wine, dancing and music, have long been classified as leisure themes. However, this assumption should perhaps be questioned, for the instruments being played here do not evoke profane music: the daf and the ney or reed flute are associated with mystical music. The theme of wine is frequent in Iranian poetry, an art form which deals on an implicit level with spirituality.