vase
- Museum number
- 2006,0307.1
- Description
-
Earthenware bottle vase, with decoration in gold lustre on a deep blue ground, comprising horizontal bands of foliate ornament with an inscription in the centre, which translates: 'There is no God but God; Mohammed is the prophet of God' (the Islamic profession of faith). The base painted with the Cantagalli factory mark, a crowing cock.
- Production date
- 1880-1900
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 13 centimetres
-
Height: 26.600 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This vase imitates Safavid copper lustre on a cobalt blue ground from Iran of the 13th-14th centuries. This in turn was revived in Iran in the 17th-18th centuries and a bottle vase of this date from the Godman bequest is shown in the lustre case in the Islamic gallery. The Cantagalli vase takes this story into Europe in the 19th century; it is a rare illustration of European interest in this type of lustre from the Islamic world.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2006
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 2006,0307.1