Lot 15. A Nishapur buffware pottery bowl, Persia, 10th Century; 24.2 cm. diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - £ 3,000 (€ 2,300 - € 3,400). Photo: Bonhams.

of shallow rounded form on a short foot with everted rim, decorated underglaze in yellow, green and manganese on a cream ground with five birds interspersed by abstract vegetal motifs, the exterior with a large zig-zag motif filled with lattice design, hatching and stylised palmettes.

Provenance: Private Italian collection.

Lot 16. Two Kashan moulded calligraphic pottery border tiles Persia, circa 1200; the larger 27.5 x 10.5 cm. Estimate £ 3,000 - 4,000 (€ 3,400 - 4,600). Photo: Bonhams.

of moulded concave form with flattened upper borders, each decorated in relief with inscriptions in naskhi surmounted by bands of undulating vines.

Provenance: Private Italian collection.

Note: Inscriptions: jan va ... va, 'Soul and ... and ...'; possibly bi tu mabad 'May it not be ... without you ...'.

For a similar tile almost certainly from the same frieze see Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 8 October 2008, lot 147.

Lot 17. An Ilkhanid Lajvardina moulded calligraphic pottery tile, Persia, 13th-14th Century; 36.4 x 17 cm. Estimate £ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 5,700 - 8,000). Photo: Bonhams.

of rectangular form, decorated in red, black and gold leaf on a turquoise ground, with moulded inscription on a ground of scrolling vegetal interlace, the top edge with a band containing a line of cable motif, old collection labels to reverse in French, one relating to the inscriptions and dated 1958.

Provenance: Private Swiss collection.

Note: Inscriptions: Qur'an, chapter LXVII (al-Mulk), end of verse 12 and beginning of verse 13.

Lot 18. A Kashan underglaze-painted pottery bowl, Persia, 12th-13th Century; 26.7 cm. diam. Estimate £ 3,000 - 4,000 (€ 3,400 - 4,600). Photo: Bonhams.

of conical form on a long foot, decorated underglaze in cobalt-blue and black on a white ground with four radiating inscription-filled bands interspersed by panels containing palmettes, the rim with a further band of inscription, the exterior with panels containing foliate sprays.

Provenance: Private UK collection.

Note: Inscriptions: a Persian quatrain.

Lot 19. A Kashan underglaze-painted pottery bowl Persia, early 13th Century; 29.2 cm. diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 4,600 - 6,900). Photo: Bonhams.

of conical form on a short foot, decorated in black under a turquoise and cobalt-blue glaze with a series of concentric zig-zag motifs, the exterior with a scrolling vine, the well with overpainted face motif.

Provenance: Private Italian collection.

Lot 20. A rare Garrus incised pottery bowl possibly signed 'suleyman', Persia, late 12th Century; 23.5 cm. diam. Estimate £ 8,000 - 12,000 (€ 9,200 - 14,000). Photo: Bonhams.

of deep slightly rounded form on a short foot, the white slip ground incised with two addorsed sphinxes with entwined tails, roundels containing flowerheads to their flanks, possible inscriptions to the wings, interspersed by scrolling tendrils and split-palmettes, a panel of pseudo kufic below, all under an ochre glaze .

Provenance: Christie's, Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs and Carpets, 28-30 April 1992, lot 202.

Note: The bowl is a fine example of Garrus pottery and is comparable to one formerly in the Oscar Raphael Collection and now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (illustrated in Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art Oxford, 1939, pl. 617 B). The marks on the wings appear to be inscriptions, that on the left apparently reading 'Suleyman', and are reminiscent of hidden signatures on contemporary bowls from Aghkand.

Lot 21. A Kashan lustre pottery bowl, Persia, 12th-13th Century; 22 cm. diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Photo: Bonhams.

of deep rounded form with inverted rim on a short splayed foot, decorated in a brownish gold lustre with a central roundel containing a seated figure, surrounded by a series of panels containing sphynxes within lobed cartouches, the rim with paired foliate motifs, the exterior with panels containing scrolling tendrils.

 Lot 22. A Kashan lustre pottery jug, Persia, 12th-13th Century; 22 cm. high. Estimate £ 3,000 - 4,000 (€ 3,400 - 4,600). Photo: Bonhams.

of bulbous form with wide cylindrical neck, on a splayed foot with simple handle, decorated in a brownish gold lustre with a series of cartouches containing mounted figures to the shoulder, the lower body with a series of cartouches containing palmette motifs, the neck with quadrupeds and abstract vegetal motifs, the interior with a band of inscription.

Note: Inscriptions: repeat of a word, possibly al-'izz, 'Glory'.

Lot 23. A Timurid moulded cuerda seca pottery tile, Persia, circa 1450; 52.3 x 15.5 x 9 cm. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Photo: Bonhams.

of convex form with two rows of moulded palmettes surmounted by a cylindrical section, decorated in cobalt-blue, turquoise, red, green and manganese on a white ground with four palmette cartouches containing flowerheads, above a band of undulating tendrils with pendant palmettes, mounted. 

Provenance: H.E. the Baron Paternotte de La Vaillée, Belgian ambassador to Jordan and Lebanon from 1967–1970, and thence by descent.

Lot 24. A Timurid cuerda seca pottery tile Persia, 15th Century; 16.5 x 16.2 cm. Estimate £ 1,500 - 2,000 (€ 1,700 - 2,300). Photo: Bonhams.

of square form, decorated in cobalt-blue, turquoise, yellow and manganese on a white ground with geometric interlace filled with flowerheads, palmettes and other stylised vegetal motifs.

Lot 25. A pair of Timurid moulded pottery squinch tiles (muqarnas), Persia, second half of the 14th Century; 30 cm. high. Estimate £ 15,000 - 20,000 (€ 17,000 - 23,000). Unsold. Photo: Bonhams.

each of rectangular and concave form with pointed arched top, decorated in turquoise and white glaze, deeply carved with a lattice design of vegetal interlace.

 Lot 26. A Timurid moulded pottery squinch tile (muqarna), Persia, second half of the 14th Century; 29,7 cm. high. Estimate £ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 11,000 - 17,000). Unsold. Photo: Bonhams.

of rectangular and concave form with pointed arched top, decorated in turquoise, cobalt-blue and white glaze, deeply carved with scrolling vegetal interlace linked by central palmettes and split palmettes.