Lot 5
£6,930
Auction: 11 December 2024 from 10:00 GMT
twelve in lustre including three with faces, three epigraphic, five with vegetal motifs and one with a bird, and five water filters, three unglazed and two monochrome, either turquoise or olive, one with an inscription, 17 pcs
largest: 12.8cm diameter
Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Works of Art, 24 April 2002, lot 252.
Private Collection, UK.
This group of shards offers a study of rare examples of lustreware produced under the Fatimids. Twelve of the shards are in lustre, of which the most unusual are three painted with faces and two in monochrome blue. The finest of Fatimid vessels are often not more than reassembled fragments that only make up half of the original piece.
The first lustre wares were probably made in Mesopotamia at the beginning of the 9th century. The technique travelled to Egypt a hundred or so years later where it reached its height. Fatimid lustre is characterised by masterly designs, including geometric, floral and figurative. The largest group of Fatimid pottery is preserved in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. There are also a number of Fatimid lustre pottery vessels, including groups of shards in The Benaki Museum, Athens; and the The Al-Sabbah Collection, Kuwait (see O. Watson, Ceramics from Islamic Lands, London 2004, pp. 273-283); The David Collection, Copenhagen, (see Art from the Worlds of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, nos. 128-133).