A lustre-painted bowl with gazelle, Attributed to the workshop of Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Nishapuri
A gazelle meanders through a landscape punctuated by long, leafy fronds terminating in blooming flowerheads, its head bent slightly forward as if to nibble on one of the stalks rising out of the lustrous golden meadow. Rendered in reserve in white with a spotted coat of coppery brown lustre, the gazelle's facial features, haunch, and tail are indicated by additional quick, thin strokes of copper lustre. Almost calligraphic in their elegance, the long legs of the gazelle act as a rhythmic compositional counterpoint to the long, leafy sprouting fronds through which the creature walks. This important bowl was made after a signed, lustre-painted Kashan dish in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. C.162-1977). It is probably the only known example of a fine Kashan lustre-painted ware made as a direct copy of another bowl from a master in the same workshop. The bowl in the Victoria & Albert bears the signature of the potter Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nishapuri followed by the phrase ‘al-muqim bi-Qashan’, meaning ‘dwelling in Kashan’ .
