Bowl of fritware with incised and underglaze painted decoration, found at Jurjan, Iran (Kashan), late 12th century to early 13th century.

Bowl of fritware, of hemispherical shape with everted rim, and decorated in black under a turquoise glaze. Interior with radiating 'willow sprays' alternating with hatched palmettes, and below the rim a black band with incised decoration of alternating vertical and horizontal lines. The exterior shows three 'willow sprays'.

This vessel was part of a hoard that was deliberately buried by its owner, probably a merchant who lived in Jurjan in north-east Iran, or who was passing through the city. In 1220, Jurjan was threatened by a Mongol invasion. The merchant packed the vessels in sand inside large storage jars and buried them for safekeeping. Soon afterwards, Jurjan was completely destroyed by the Mongols, and the owner never returned to recover the hoard.As a result, the vessels in this hoard survived together for almost 800 years, and in relatively good condition.The probable date of their burial also gives us a good indication of when the vessels in the hoard were made, as well as showing the wide variety of types of decoration that were used to make Iranian pottery at this time.

Clement Ades gave a large number of objects found in the Jurjan hoard to the Victoria and Albert Museum at different times. Their object numbers are C.152 to 171-1977, and C.35 to 49-1978.

Found in Jurjan

C.48-1978