White dish painted in blue and black with flowers and reeds, Iran (probably Kashan), 1200-1220.

White fritware dish, decorated in underglaze in blue and black with a design of flowers and reeds.

Given by Mr C. N. Ades MBE in memory of his wife Andrée Ades

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.

This dish is decorated in just one of an astonishing range of styles Iranian potters used on fritwares in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Kashan potters experimented with painting designs under the glaze. Black, which remained stable during firing, was used under a clear or tinted glaze. Blue often ran, so they used blocks of colour that ran into themselves, as seen in the decoration on this dish.

Fritware was also known as stone paste and quartz paste. It was developed by Middle Eastern potters as a response to the challenge posed by Chinese porcelain. Unlike high-fired Chinese porcelain, low-fired fritware was soft and porous, but like porcelain it was white all the way through and could be used to make convincing substitutes.

C.158-1977