Flask

1650-1700 (made), 1800-75 (mounting)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This large bottle was made in Iran in 17th century Safavid Iran, probably at Kirman. Unlike much of the earlier Iranian pottery of this period, both the shape and the decoration using coloured slip and underglaze blue showcase elements of native Islamic design and tradition, rather than imitate Chinese designs.

In 19th century Qajar Iran, before a contemporary export market had emerged, a commercial market for historical artefacts arose, fuelled by Western collectors and museums. Historically, fragmentary material culture, particularly ceramics, including 17th century Safavid fritware, and Chinese porcelain, which had been damaged through use, was often repaired or re-purposed with metal mounts, frequently brass, to replace missing spouts, handles, lids and necks. Many examples were acquired for the Victoria and Albert Museum by Major-General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith (1835-1900) in Iran in the 1870s and 1880s. Among these is a large corpus embellished with a minutely engraved repertoire of figures from 19th century Iranian visual culture: youthful Qajar princes, veiled women, dervishes, acrobats, as well as monstrous supernatural beings, known as divs, and a range of bizarre humanoid creatures. These mounted vessels of Safavid fritware are therefore couched in a Qajar environment and re-fitted according to contemporary taste.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Fritware, painted in red slip and underglaze blue
Brief description
Flask, fritware, of flattened pyriform shape, underglaze painted in blue with red slip, covered in a clear glaze; Iran, 1650-1700; with later metal mounts.
Physical description
Bottle, fritware, pear-shape with flattened sides, the raised flat panels painted in red-slip with flowers, and the sides similarly painted within lobed panels, against a ground of underglaze blue scrollwork. The neck is made of nineteenth century chased brass with figural decoration.
Dimensions
  • Height: 49.5cm
  • Width: 26.4cm
Style
Production typeUnique
Historical context
Seems to form part of a group attributed to 17th century Kirman, although it has been dated to the 15th or 16th century.
Production
"Kirman Polychrome"
Subject depicted
Summary
This large bottle was made in Iran in 17th century Safavid Iran, probably at Kirman. Unlike much of the earlier Iranian pottery of this period, both the shape and the decoration using coloured slip and underglaze blue showcase elements of native Islamic design and tradition, rather than imitate Chinese designs.

In 19th century Qajar Iran, before a contemporary export market had emerged, a commercial market for historical artefacts arose, fuelled by Western collectors and museums. Historically, fragmentary material culture, particularly ceramics, including 17th century Safavid fritware, and Chinese porcelain, which had been damaged through use, was often repaired or re-purposed with metal mounts, frequently brass, to replace missing spouts, handles, lids and necks. Many examples were acquired for the Victoria and Albert Museum by Major-General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith (1835-1900) in Iran in the 1870s and 1880s. Among these is a large corpus embellished with a minutely engraved repertoire of figures from 19th century Iranian visual culture: youthful Qajar princes, veiled women, dervishes, acrobats, as well as monstrous supernatural beings, known as divs, and a range of bizarre humanoid creatures. These mounted vessels of Safavid fritware are therefore couched in a Qajar environment and re-fitted according to contemporary taste.
Collection
Accession number
871-1876

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Record createdApril 13, 2002
Record URL
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