THREE UNGLAZED EARTHENWARE WATER JUG FILTERS
Fustat, Fatimid Egypt, 10th - 12th century

Comprising three unglazed, incised, and pierced filters, once possibly used at the junction of the body and neck of unglazed jugs, each of a similar circular shape, set in the middle of raised, flared walls, the largest decorated with a sunburst medallion in-filled with an irradiating rosette, 10.5cm outer diam.; another with a stylised Arabic Kufic inscription, possibly reading 'al-Jalal', one of the 99 names of Allah, 6cm outer diam.; and the smallest with an abstract interlaced stellar motif, 4.5cm outer diam.

Two filters in the present lot show a strong affinity to Fustat unglazed filters in the al-Sabah collection at the Kuwait National Museum (inv. nos. LNS 448 C and LNS 427 C). Although several hundreds of filters have survived, very few are still attached to their original, complete jugs, making scholars wonder how these filters were actually produced and inserted in the jugs. Oliver Watson suggests that each filter was probably cut from a flattened piece of clay, and semi-dried so that it would be strong enough to handle and set into the neck of a jug as the throwing proceeded (O. Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, 2004, p. 132).