Vessel with Inscription and Chinoiserie Decoration

The six fields on the outside of this squat bowl are filled with Chinese landscape motifs, with birds and flowers in two alternating variations. A border of scale-like motifs marks the transition to the neck, where between passages of latticework and scale-like patterns are four cartouches with a Persian poem and the date of production of the bowl. The bottom of the inside is decorated with a medallion in which, against a rocky background, a bird of prey is depicted beneath a gnarled pine. The blue painting in two shades with its distinct contours, the delicate white and the hardness of the body, the Chinese motifs and even an imitation of a Chinese porcelain mark on the foot all point to the great example of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. This was collected in Safavid Iran, especially by Shah Abbas I (1587-1629), the ruler at the time this piece was produced, who donated his collection to the dynasty's ancestral shrine at Ardabil. This bowl is a fine example of the Persian masters' great skill in artfully combining foreign and domestic elements. This can be seen here more particularly in the form of the vessel and in the inscription. Depictions of such vessels in Persian miniatures suggest that it may have been used for food and originally been provided with a lid. The Persian poem too, which speaks of bread and salt, but is concerned above all with friendship, also suggests spirited talk at a convivial meal.