Goblet thumbnail 1
Goblet thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Goblet

late 17th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The decoration on this footed goblet is a combination of dense lustre over clear and cobalt blue glazes. This is a feature of many lustre wares produced in Iran during the period 1650-1700.

Around 1650, a group of Iranian potters revived the technique of lustre decoration, which had not been used on any scale in Iran for three centuries. We do not know how the technique was revived, or where the potters produced their distinctive wares. The 17th-century lustre ware included a wide range of small vessels, such as this goblet.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Fritware with glazing
Brief description
Footed goblet decorated in cobalt and lustre, Iran, late 17th century.
Physical description
Goblet with foot and slightly lobed shape. Deep cobalt blue lustre on exterior and cream interior with red floral decoration. The outer decoration has floral decorations on the bowl, with stripes of lustre on the foot. The inner decoration has a decoration round the rim consisting of an abstract squiggly design between two lines.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 14.3cm
  • Height: 13.4cm
Style
Gallery label
Jameel Gallery Safavid Lustre About 1650, a group of Safavid potters revived the technique of lustre decoration. This had not been used on any scale in Iran for three centuries. It is not known how the technique was revived, or where the potters produced their distinctive wares. The 17th-century lustre ware included a wide range of small vessels. The dense lustre decoration was applied over clear or cobalt blue glazes. The two are often combined on the same piece. 22–26 Lustre Bowl, Goblet, Bottle, Pot and Ewer Iran 1650–1700 Fritware with lustre over clear and coloured glazes Museum nos. C.1965-1910, Bequest of George Salting; 557-1889; C.59-1952, Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund and the Bryan Bequest; 561-1889; 924-1876 (2006)
Historical context
In ceramic production, compounds of copper and silver were used to create the shiny, metallic decoration known as lustre. It was a two-stage process. In the first stage, the glazed pot was produced in the normal way by firing in a kiln. In the second, a design was painted over the glaze using the metallic compounds, and the pot was refired at a lower temperature in a kiln with a restricted supply of oxygen. During this second firing, the heat converted the metallic compounds into oxides, and the carbon monoxide produced by the fire then drew the oxygen out of the oxides, leaving the metal as a thin deposit on the vessel. The result was a surface with an attractive golden glow. Both these forms of decoration - blue-and-white and lustre - were to have a very long history, and they are both still in use today.

The designs of Safavid lustre owe nothing to the Chinese, but are purely Iranian. Their source is not precisely identifiable, the motifs are a mixture of the sort of decoration found in contemporary manuscript illumination, see Pope (1939; pls 892-93, 896-98. 974-75 etc.) and designs developed specifically for ceramics, such as the arabesques and floral designs found on slip-painted wares (cat. U.25.U26). The relationship ends there though. The range of shapes, the materials and details of making indicate that it is a separate production.
Subject depicted
Summary
The decoration on this footed goblet is a combination of dense lustre over clear and cobalt blue glazes. This is a feature of many lustre wares produced in Iran during the period 1650-1700.

Around 1650, a group of Iranian potters revived the technique of lustre decoration, which had not been used on any scale in Iran for three centuries. We do not know how the technique was revived, or where the potters produced their distinctive wares. The 17th-century lustre ware included a wide range of small vessels, such as this goblet.
Bibliographic references
  • Watson, Oliver. Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, p. 165 and Colour Plate P
  • Alan Caiger-Smith, Lustre Pottery: Technique, Tradition and Innovation in Islam and the Western World, London, 1985, p.197
Collection
Accession number
557-1889

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Record createdNovember 19, 2003
Record URL
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