A KASHAN GLAZED POTTERY JUG (ALBARELLO), PERSIA, 14TH CENTURY A KASHAN GLAZED POTTERY JUG (ALBARELLO), PERSIA, 14TH CENTURY A KASHAN GLAZED POTTERY JUG (ALBARELLO), PERSIA, 14TH CENTURY A KASHAN GLAZED POTTERY JUG (ALBARELLO), PERSIA, 14TH CENTURY

A KASHAN GLAZED POTTERY JUG (ALBARELLO), PERSIA, 14TH CENTURY

Reference: ART3005375

This medicine jar is cylindrical in shape, but with a slightly flared wall; it has a small shoulder and a straight rim, and is supported by a small annular foot. The decoration follows a precise pattern, running from the base of the body to the rim. It is made up of alternating vertical stripes in different colours (turquoise, black, cobalt blue) or decorated with pseudo-inscriptions. The cobalt-blue bands feature an arabesque of wavy lines and dots painted in black, visible beneath the blue colour. The original function of these jars was to contain spices (in Iran as early as the 9th century and in Syria a little later, from the 12th century onwards), as well as drugs and ointments used in pharmacy. Called al-birâm (earthenware pots) in Arabic, they were also very popular in Europe under their Italian name albarelli, and this albarello belongs to a group of vases consisting mainly of bowls decorated with panels radiating out from the central point, sometimes referred to as "panel style" in English. In this example, the motifs (arabesques, pseudo-calligraphy, dotted lines), colours (cream slip, black paint, cobalt blue and turquoise) and rays visible above the foot have their counterparts on the bowls, in the internal and external decoration. Despite the clear difference in appearance with the so-called Sultanabad vases, these two styles are often compared, because of the similarities in the subsidiary decorations. Panel-style vases, however, are generally finer and of higher quality.
Condition: Complete, in excellent condition despite a few cracks.
The paint is partially iridescent or faded, but the main lines of the decoration are nevertheless clear. Height: 22 cm.

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Switzerland Formerly Japanese collection, collected in the 1980-90s

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lands of Islam, The Middle Eastern ceramic collections of the Ariana Museum in Geneva, Geneva, 2014, nos. 73-77, p. 86-89.
WATSON O, Ceramics from the Islamic Lands, Kuwait National Museum: The Al-Sabah Collection, London, 2004, pp. 388-389.