Very few pieces of Iranian lusterware survive from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but this technique was revived in the seventeenth century. During this period, lusterware was produced in a relatively limited range of shapes, including elegant bottles, such as the one here, as well as dishes, bowls, cups, ewers and sand-shakers. This bottle may have been used for wine, and has a molded, pear-shaped body with a long neck, and is covered with a silver fitting and sealed with a silver top.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bottle
Date:late 17th century
Geography:Made in Iran
Medium:Stonepaste; luster-painted on opaque blue glaze, with silver fittings
Dimensions:H. 11 in. (27.9 cm) Max Diam. 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891
Accession Number:91.1.170
Bottle
In the late seventeenth century, luster glazing of Persian ceramics revived after nearly three hundred years of infrequent use. In this bottle, as in some medieval examples, the luster has been applied over blue glaze. Lusterware required a second firing in a reducing kiln, with limited oxygen, to fix the metal oxides that produced its shiny surface. The technique was thus more labor-intensive than underglaze painting or monochrome glazing. Although little is known of the identity of the patrons of such ware, large numbers of lusterware bottles, bowls, spittoons, and plates indicate how fashionable it was in the late Safavid period.
To compensate for breakage, a silver mount and lid with embossed decoration and niello were added to this piece. Unfortunately, as a result, the height of the original neck and whether it had a knob at some point on its shaft are unknown. While decorated in an "Islamic" style, the mount was most likely made in the West, in either Europe or North America.[1] Around the sides of the bottle appears a scene of a disproportionately large bird (perhaps a bulbul) and a peacock standing in a landscape of grasses, flowering plants, and trees. While the potter was unconcerned about botanical or zoological correctness, he succeeded in conveying the impression of a lively spring setting. An early inventory of the Moore collection suggests that the bottle may have been acquired from the Castellani Collection, evidence of Moore’s engagement with networks of European collectors.[2]
Petrographic testing of the fabric of Safavid lusterwares has indicated that they were made in Mashhad, although some evidence points to Kirman as another production center.[3] Some Safavid lusterwares incorporate motifs found in bookbindings and manuscript illuminations,[4] which raises the question of whether book illustrators, illuminators, and binders supplied designs to those who decorated the wares.
Sheila R. Canby in [Higgins Harvey 2021]
Footnotes:
1. The mount is not marked, and the silversmith responsible for its creation cannot be identified. Moore had objects he collected repaired at Tiffany’s silver workshops; see the essay by Christopher S. Lightfoot in this volume and note 30. Thus, it is possible that the mount was made by silversmiths on his staff.
2. The bottle might be number 2258, described as "Flagon, decorated with animals, birds, etc; copper metallic lustre on blue ground; modern silver top. Castellani collection"; "Complete List, E. C. Moore Collection, Belonging to the Dr. I. H. Hall Office," undated [1891–96], Edward C. Moore Collection files, Office of the Secretary Records, MMS Archives. For more on the collectors, see the essay by Deniz Beyazit in this volume.
3. Golombek, Lisa. "Dominant Fashions and Distinctive Styles." In Lisa Golombek, Robert B. Mason, Patricia Proctor, and Eileen Reilly, Persian Pottery in the First Global Age: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, pp. 57–121. Arts and Archeology of the Islamic world 1. Leiden: Brill, 2014, p. 114.
4. Walter Denny, Waffiya Ezzy, and Oliver Watson in Arts of Islam. Exh. cat. , Hayward Gallery, London. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p. 264, no. 401.
Edward C. Moore (American), New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA)
Lukens, Marie G. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide to the Collections: Islamic Art. vol. 9. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1965. p. 33, fig. 47.
Beyazit, Deniz. Collecting Inspiration : Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co., edited by Medill Higgins Harvey. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021. no. 132, pp. 198–99, ill.
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