COUPELLE EN CÉRAMIQUE À L'INSCRIPTION COUFIQU... Lot n° 109

EASTERN IRAN OR TRANSOXIAN, SAMANID ART, 10th CENTURY A small truncated cone-shaped bowl on a flat base, made of clay ceramic with brown over beige slip decoration and a colourless underglaze. The sides are decorated with an Arabic inscription in kufic script divided into five parts. A SMALL KUFIC CALLIGRAPHIC POTTERY BOWL, EASTERN PERSIAN OR CENTRAL ASIA, SAMANID, 10TH CENTURY. H: 4.5 cm - Ø: 13.5 cm Private collection, Paris Rive Gauche, early 1980s. Exhibition catalogue: CERAMICS FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD 8TH - 18TH CENTURY, Münich, 4-28 April 1989, beim Herausgeber, 1989, p. 48, cat. 8. The inscription reads: "al-'anâtu qabla al-ra'y" ([Have] patience before [giving] an opinion). A bowl with the same inscription identically divided into five parts is illustrated in Abdullah Ghouchani, Inscriptions on Nishapur Pottery, Tehran, 1986, pl. 137, p. 295. Expert: L.S. Restored cracks and small blockages; glaze in relatively good condition, which has kept most of its brilliance, small chip on the rim.