Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Cup

ca. 1650-1700 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The designs on Safavid lustreware are purely Iranian, and owe nothing to Chinese designs, so prevalent in underglaze blue painted wares. Potters revived a three-hundred year old Iranian decorative technique in the second half of the Seventeenth century. However, the sources for the designs are found in contemporary manuscript illuminations, some dated about 1675.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Fritware, underglaze and lustre decoration
Brief description
Cup, fritware, cobalt blue ground exterior, overglaze painted in ruby-coloured lustre; Iran, 1650-1700.
Physical description
Cup, fritware, cobalt blue ground exterior, glazed, painted with metallic ruby lustre, the interior with solid lustre ground, exterior with split palmette pattern border
Dimensions
  • Height: 3.2cm
  • Diameter: 7.3cm
Style
Gallery label
Cup of glazed earthenware, Iran, 15th century or 16th century(1888)
Subject depicted
Summary
The designs on Safavid lustreware are purely Iranian, and owe nothing to Chinese designs, so prevalent in underglaze blue painted wares. Potters revived a three-hundred year old Iranian decorative technique in the second half of the Seventeenth century. However, the sources for the designs are found in contemporary manuscript illuminations, some dated about 1675.
Collection
Accession number
479-1888

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest