Dish, late 12thearly 13th century
Iran, Kashan
Composite body, glazed and luster-painted; H. 1 7/8 in. (4.7 cm), 16 1/8 in. (41 cm)
Gift of Beatrice Kelekian, in memory of her husband, Charles D. Kelekian, 1983 (1983.247)
Iran, Kashan
Composite body, glazed and luster-painted; H. 1 7/8 in. (4.7 cm), 16 1/8 in. (41 cm)
Gift of Beatrice Kelekian, in memory of her husband, Charles D. Kelekian, 1983 (1983.247)
This large fluted dish, presently fragmentary and restored, is an excellent example of the so-called Kashan style of luster painting, which reveals the distinctive features of figures drawn in reserve on a luster ground while the background is filled entirely with small spirals and "commas" scratched through the luster. The forty-four visible figures are so densely clustered around the central veiled womanseated in a litter supported by two assesthat their bodies occupy virtually the entire painted area. The dish once stood on three small feet, one of which is now missing.

















