Cer, Iran, Safavid, Fritware, Underglaze Blue

Light blue ceramic plate with a central floral design spray made up of five flowers, two large leaves, and several stems with budding or smaller leaves on them. The base of the spray is decorated with a bow-like design with strands coming off it on either side like ribbon strands. The well is plain and the broad flange is filled with seven insect like shapes surrounded by a lobed frame.

Historical significance: Potters creating plates in during this period were primarily reworking past themes for example traditional Kraak themes were often reworked haphazardly with lotus branches, ballustrades, dragons and birds.

Persian blue and white ceramics were primarily produced during the rule of the Safavid Dynasty in Iran (early 16th century to early 18th century). Iranian potters were almost exclusively preoccupied with making wares in the styles of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain some close copies and some more fanciful. Echoes of earlier traditions remained, in particular in the black-under-turquoise colour scheme that dates back in Iran to the end of the 12th century. Towards the end of the 16th century there was a widening of interest that blossomed in the 17th century to a wide range of styles and techniques in which blue and white plays a dominant but not exclusive role.

2717-1876