AN ELEGANT SAFAVID COBALT BLUE AND RUBY COPPER LUSTRE-PAINTED POTTERY BOTTLE
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Safavid Iran, 17th century

Of typical pyriform shape, with a gadrooned globular body resting on a short circular foot and rising to a tapering tubular neck, underglaze painted in cobalt blue and ruby-red lustre against white ground, with radial sections following the lines formed by the moulded body featuring alternating lustre designs of leaves, rosettes, and drop-shaped medallions with abstract decoration, the indentations marked with long blue strokes, 25cm high.

Provenance: Formerly in the collection of Dikran Khan Kelekian (1868 - 1951), notable Armenian collector and dealer of Islamic art, New York and Paris.

Literature: Dikran Khan Kelekian, The Potteries of Persia, being a Brief History of the Art of Ceramics in the Near East, Paris, 1909, fig. 22, p. 26.