c. 1600
The placement of fish at the bottom of a vessel associated with water is a long-standing tradition in Islamic metalwork and can be seen in several earlier objects in this gallery. However, the form of these swirling fish, with human heads, is characteristic of the Deccan and can be seen in architecture as well as metalwork. Around the rim of this dish is the Throne Verse from the Qur'an in thuluth script against a scrolling vegetal background. The use of thuluth script during this period is also typical of the Deccan and can be paralleled in architecture; in contemporary northern India and Iran, nastaliq was the script of choice. Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.
Diam: 27.9 x H: 2.5 cm (11 x 1 in.)
Cizhou ware: light gray stoneware with decoration incised and carved into an all-over coating of white slip, the whole piece covered with a clear, transparent glaze
12th centuryChineseIncised celadon ware: light gray stoneware with celadon glaze over incised decoration. Reportedly recovered in Kaesŏng, Kyŏnggi province.
12th centuryKoreanTerracotta
6th century BCEGreekTerracotta; black and red glaze
8th century BCEGreekCeramic
18th centuryJapaneseTerracotta
GreekSilver
17th-19th centuryFrenchBuff-colored earthenware painted with luster (silver and copper) over white lead alkali glaze opacified with tin
10th centuryKyoto ware: buff earthenware with clear glaze and decoration in overglaze polychrome enamels
19th centuryJapaneseBlue-green glazed faience
1st-2nd century CEEgyptianYaozhou ware: light gray stoneware with misfired olive-brown celadon glaze and kiln adhesions. From the Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.
12th-13th centuryChinese