Ceramic; ISL, NP, 16/17

Ceramic bottle with a straight neck, decorated in two blues and black. The outline of the design is black. Vertical rows of imitation Shou characters decorate the neck . On the reserve-painted body, three birds without legs, alternate with three massive flowers and their veined leaves. Each bird has one eye, a beak and an elongated bib-shaped face. Its body is covered with four rows of lines between spotted areas.

Historical significance: This bottle shows one of the two new decorative themes developed during this period; that of the partridge.

The partidge and the hunter are two new designs, both reserve-painted which come into use during the mid-17th century. The fat bird originates in China where scholars have called it a heron, an ibis or a crane (D. Carre, J.-P. Deroches, F.Goddio. Le San Diégo; un trésor sous la mer. Paris, 1994, 318-319). It stands on spindly legs amidst scrolls, leaves and flowers. On similar Persian bottles the size of the bird and its beak resemble the Chinese model. However, no zoological name can be given to the Persian version of its body. Seven of these strange birds appear on a large Persian dish (Ashmolean Museum 350) resembling Chinese models of the mid-16th century (R. Krahl. Chinese ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum. London, 1986, figs. 901-903).

1128-1876