Persian ceramic cup attributable to the Seljuk period (12th-13th century), made of artificial impasto of a beautiful intense turquoise color. This ceramic paste, more composite and lighter than common fig clay, is in fact the reintroduction into Islamic Persia of this period of a material already used since at least the 2nd millennium BC in Egypt, in Syria and Mesopotamia and known as „Egyptian earthenware“, but which had fallen into disuse. Abu’l Kashim of Kashan, member of an illustrious family of potters, in his famous treatise of 1301, gives us a precise description of the components of this mixture: ten parts of pulverized quartz, one part of plastic clay and one part of glass. The result was a white, almost translucent paste, which was then covered with a transparent or colored glaze (most often turquoise) under (or over) which a painted decoration could be executed. Such objects, testimonies of distant worlds and different and mysterious civilizations, arriving in Europe following commercial exchanges or sectarian wars, have always exercised considerable fascination for Westerners, who „encased“ them in typically European mounts. , not only to highlight them but also to assert political, cultural, artistic and religious supremacy. Our cup also followed this destiny and was mounted on a magnificent gilded copper base with a circular base, decorated with six petals in relief, a hexagonal stem and a knot set with six precious stones in blue glass paste, dating from the 14th century. It shows how fascinating it can be to combine two seemingly different worlds, such as the Islamic world represented by the monochrome ceramic basin and the Western world, illustrated by the purely Gothic shaped plinth. HD photos will be available Attention: Can only be sold within the European Union
|
