Fritware bowl, painted with an enthroned ruler and his attendants

The scene shows a ruler sitting on his throne in a garden, surrounded by attendants. A visitor sits on a cushion opposite, perhaps a minister making his report to the sovereign. A decorated canopy above their heads suggests that the audience is taking place in an open tent. There are cypress trees and a fishpond, standard features of a nobleman's garden. On a cream-underglazed background, the artist has drawn decorative patterns, such as the tent-canopy, clothing, trees and fishpond. This type of luxury ceramic is known as haft rang, or 'seven colour', or mina'i enamelled ware, as it could be painted in a range of colours. The technique was developed in twelfth-century Iran. First the bowl is given a transparent or cream glaze, and is fired in the kiln. A colourful scene is then painted over the glaze, and the bowl is fired again, at a lower temperature. The maker of this bowl has signed his work. His name is Abu Zayd, a master potter of medieval Kashan, who also specialized in lustreware and underglaze-painted ceramics.