Bottle, fritware, underglaze painted in underglaze blue and black with partridges; Iran, 1650-1700.

Bottle painted in blue and black. A bulbous top with a leaf scroll, and the body of the bottle shows a large bird with bib-like face on either side. The face of one has a beak and only one eye. Large lotus flowers and leaves between the birds.

This object was purchased in Tehran in 1873, by Robert Murdoch Smith on behalf of the Museum. In his first bulk acquisition for the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A), Murdoch Smith had bought "a considerable collection" of over 100 examples of metalwork, ceramic, inlaid woodwork and textile from different local sources, including French diplomat Emile Charles Bernay and four art-dealers: Nasrullah Dellal, Abu'l-Hassan Dellal, Abdul-Husayn and Reza Kashi of Tehran. Many further acquisitions followed in the years 1873-1878 and 1883-1885, most extensively from the art-dealer Jules Richard, long resident in Tehran.

448-1874