IRAN, Safavid art, late 17th - early 18th century Gombroon"... Lot 18

IRAN, Safavid art, late 17th - early 18th century Gombroon" bowl Small bowl with a central umbilicus, made of translucent siliceous ceramic, with openwork decoration of "grains of rice" on the sides, decorated with a rosette painted in black around the umbilicus, and groups of three striations around the rim. Condition: a stain in the material, cracks, some browned glaze cracks and a small chip on the rim. D. 12 cm ; H. 4,5 cm Provenance : former collection of Stefanos Lagonicos, Alexandria, and Jean Lagonico, Aix-en- Provence The ceramics known as "Gombroon" are among the finest ever made in Iran. Made of a very finely ground, hard, white paste, vitrified to the point of being almost translucent, they were supposed to imitate Chinese porcelain. The openwork decoration of "grains of rice" accentuates the finesse of this production. This type of ceramic is called Gombroon or Gombrun after the ancient Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz where European trading companies were based since the 1600s, although this is not the place where they were made, which is still unknown. A similar bowl is preserved in the Louvre Museum (inv. MAO 617).