A large and very beautiful Nishapur ceramic bowl measuring c. 30 x 11 cm. The bowl dates to 10th. century. It's decorated with a beautiful pattern of Kufic letters and symethric floral elements in red and black on a beige-white background.

Bowls including bold black inscriptions in the so-called kufic angular calligraphy were produced in the important ceramic centers of Nishapur in eastern Iran. The text often contains a proverb in Arabic or a series of wishes.The bowl represents the first revival of the traditional art due to the rise of the native Islamic dynasty of the Samanids. A most important bowl that shows the true glory of the simple artful style that owes much to the Sassanian art and to the earlier cultures of the Iran. Condition: Choice! Some restoring and an area of decolouration as seen in the pictures. Typical for the size, time and period and much original surface.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East