Dish With Radiating Spokes, Syria, 12th century CE,  fritware, lustre painted over an opaque white glaze, 23.5 cm. Accession number AKM00551. The Aga Khan Museum © Copyright Aga Khan Museum

Given the central location of Syria along numerous routes of cultural exchange, it is no surprise that excavations of mediaeval kiln sites in this country have yielded ceramic wares produced in a variety of techniques and exhibiting diverse motifs and styles. As a result, the identification and classification of this material is particularly difficult. This lustre painted dish, however, can be grouped stylistically among the so-called “Tell Minis” wares, named after a village site near Ma'arrat al-Nu'man in western Syria and distinguished by their fine frit bodies and a unique lustre painting style. As Oya Pancaroglu has noted, there is not enough evidence about the discovery of the “Tell Minis” hoard or the site itself to allow for a confident attribution of this location as a centre of production (Pancaroglu 2007, p. 63). At the very least, works categorised as “Tell Minis” can be spotted by their inclusion of vegetal ornament composed of three- or five-lobed leaves with pointed tips, often surrounding a large central figural motif, or a non-figural design, such as the circular medallion with radiating spokes in this dish. This dish has an exterior Arabic inscription identifying the workshop or artist, followed by the word khass, which can be translated to “special” or “prívate,” perhaps meant to indicate royal or special commissions (see ibid., pp. 62-63 [nos. 20 and 21]).