Bowl with Relief Decoration of Fish and Flowers

Acquired as a fourteenth-century example of East Asian influence on Persian ceramics, this bowl in fact echoes Yuan-dynasty celadon dishes with molded fish decoration from a far greater distance in time. The irregularly formed relief motifs—fish and rosettes—appear to have been built up with beaded and trailed slip. In finer examples of this design, the bodies of the fish curve to create a swirling movement; here the motifs are positioned along radii, yielding a static effect. With the exception of two chips at the foot and a blind crack in the base, the bowl is intact. Turquoise glaze covers the body of the vessel, stopping well short of the low foot ring; iridescence clouds the glaze along the wall on both interior and exterior. The bowl was last fired within the past 100 years, according to the results of thermoluminescence analysis carried out in 2004.