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.)
Terracotta
6th century BCEGreekSatsuma ware; white earthenware with decoration in overglaze polychrome enamels and with impressed mark on the base reading 'Taizan'
19th centuryJapaneseTerracotta
GreekSilver
17th-18th centuryAmericanEnameled blue-and-white ware: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze yellow and red enamels
16th-17th centuryChineseWhite ware: glazed porcelain with incised mark reading "Qianlong nian zhi" in seal-script characters on the base
18th centuryChineseNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: off-white stoneware with dark brown glaze, the exterior with russet skin, the interior with russet markings in overglaze iron oxide
11th-12th centuryChineseTin-glazed earthenware
16th centuryItalianExport blue-and-white ware: porcelain with mold-impressed designs and decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue
18th centuryChineseTerracotta
4th-1st century BCEGreekMarble
Hellenistic or Early Roman