“Nishapur polychrome dish” Persia, Nishapur
10th - early 11th century AD (H 6.5cm D 23cm)
Dish, slip-painted, 'buff" or 'Nishapur polychrome' ware. Buff earthenware, straight radiating walls. vertical rim and everted lip, on a shallow foot-ring with a concave base.
The vessel is covered with a creamy ground slip and the decoration, painted in yellow, green and manganese purple, represents a galloping horse with a smaller animal, probably a lion, above. This may recall the scene on Sasanian silver-gilt hunting plates. Semi-palmettes and floral patterns fill the areas between. The inside of the rim carries repetitive pseudo-kufic motifs with small green and yellow patches above them. On the exterior the rim is decorated with ovals alternately coloured yellow and green outlined in manganese purple and separated by manganese vertical lines. The whole of the vessel is covered with a colourless transparent lead glaze.
