Dish thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Dish

1600-50 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Iran (made)

Dish partially (missing rim), fritware, painted in underglaze blue with a black outline under a clear glaze. The design is painted with a double-tailed phoenix about to pounce on a lion, against a ground densely filled with flaming clouds and three Chinese motifs symbolizing cash or currency, hence "cash" motifs. On the underside, above the footring there is an outer band filled with six reciprocal half-flowers between scrolls.


Object details

Category
Ceramics
Object type
Dish
Materials and techniques
Fritware, underglaze painted in blue and black
Fritware
Painted
Glazed
Brief description
Dish (partial), fritware, painted in underglaze blue and black with confronting lioness and phoenix amid cloud scrolls and cash motifs, Iran, 1600-50.
Physical description
Dish partially (missing rim), fritware, painted in underglaze blue with a black outline under a clear glaze. The design is painted with a double-tailed phoenix about to pounce on a lion, against a ground densely filled with flaming clouds and three Chinese motifs symbolizing cash or currency, hence "cash" motifs. On the underside, above the footring there is an outer band filled with six reciprocal half-flowers between scrolls.
Dimensions
  • Height: 3.5cm
  • Width: 36.4cm
Style
Safavid
Marks and inscriptions
(Imitation Chinese square mark in black)
Production
Crowe - Kraak II group
Subjects depicted
Lions
Phoenix
Cash (Chinese Money)
Clouds
Floral Scrolls
Bibliographic references
  • Crowe, Yolande. Persia and China: Safavid blue and white ceramics in the Victoria & Albert Museum 1501-1738. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002, Cat. 45, p. 70.
  • L'Etrange et le Merveilleux en terres d'Islam, Paris : Editions de la Réunion des Musée Nationaux, 2001 no.69, p.102
  • Rogers, J. M., "Pottery in sixteenth and seventeenth century Persia" In: Islamic Art and Design, London, British Museum Publications Limited, 1983, pp. 122-39. No. 166.
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
2897-1876

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Record createdNovember 7, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85358/dish-unknown/
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