DENIZ BEYAZIT: My name is Deniz Beyazit. I'm one of the curators working in the Islamic Art Department. And today, we have the opportunity to listen to Denise-Marie Teece, who knows a lot about Iranian ceramics. …Can you tell me about how this has been created?

DENISE-MARIE TEECE: It's a rare technique and… how we think it was made was a potter would be working on a wheel and he would raise the interior wall first, which would have held the liquid. And then the outer wall would have been raised around that…and attached at the neck. …But this outer wall, before it was completely dry, would have been carved away very carefully to reveal this beautiful cage-like wall. Within that you see designs of human-headed birds and …leaping leopards and these kind of creatures.

DENIZ BEYAZIT: As far as I can see, there are two bands with inscriptions. In Farsi, in Persian? Can you read them?

DENISE-MARIE TEECE: Well, on metalwork examples of jugs in this shape a lot of those inscriptions are poetic verses that talk about drinking wine and being drunk on the love for your sweetheart so it does relate and suggest that the jugs were used for drinking wine. This particular example does not mention wine specifically but it does have these beautiful verses that talk about a lover lamenting his beloved. So I'll read you a little bit of what the bottom inscription says. The poet says: "I tied my soul to the ends of her curls along with my heart. If I could just have one moment face to face with her, I could reclaim my heart and be free from this suffering."

NARRATOR: As you explore this gallery, you can hear about how Persian poetry is intertwined with the visual arts. Press PLAY.