Bowl with green, yellow, and brown splash decoration, 10th century. Iran, Nishapur. Islamic. Earthenware; white slip, incised and splashed with polychrome glazes under transparent glaze (sgraffito ware); H. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm), Diam. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1938 (38.40.137).

This bowl is an example of the splashware made throughout Iraq, Iran, and western Central Asia, a type possibly inspired by Tang Chinese wares that were mainly decorated in a combination of green, yellow, and brown glazes. The addition of geometric and floral patterns, scratched into the surface of the bowl before the glazes were applied, is uniquely Iranian, and the vigorous yet refined drawing of the foliate forms makes this one of the finest splashed sgraffito pieces excavated.