A POLYCHROME-ENAMELLED AND GILT POTTERY BOWL WITH A PORTRAIT OF SHAH ABBAS I
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Qajar Iran, mid to late 19th century

Of hemispherical shape, standing on a short circular foot, the interior painted with polychrome-enamelled decoration in a palette of blue, green, yellow, red, and purple on white ground and outlined in black, in the centre a bust portrait of the fifth Safavid ruler, Shah Abbas the Great, the Shah wearing a gold robe and matching gold turban, along with floral shaped bazubands, his characteristic moustache long and graduating gently downwards, the portrait encircled by a gold band, the cavetto with a band of scrolling vegetal palmette trellis amongst green and white floral scrolls, set against blue and purple grounds, the outside rim of the bowl with a band of poetry describing the cup as beautiful and worthy of the Shah, below it hunting scenes including a huntsman chasing deer, a bear standing victorious above a huntsman, and a heron fighting a snake, inscribed and dated to give the impression of an earlier piece 'Abdullah Kukeltash Abbasi, 1019 AH', 19.6cm diam.