Glaze: brilliant turquoise green with blue inside the neck; a very slight iridescence. Crackled and pitted.
(Atil, 1973)
Monochrome Safavid ceramics were not only limited to celadons, but also included turquoise, blue, green and brown glazed wares. This bottle with a globular body, tall and tapering neck and widening mouth is adorned with a simple molded ring encircling the upper portion of the neck. The turquiose-blue glaze is crackled and is also applied to the inner surface of the mouth.
The shape of the bottle, or bottle-shaped vase, goes back to earlier metal prototypes and can be found in the eleventh or twelfth century (an identical shape occurs in a silver vessel from the Seljuk period in the Freer Gallery, no. 50.5). Similar bottles are frequently employed in miniature paintings depicting princely entertainment scenes from the fourteenth century onward. They are represented either as silver and gold vessels or as blue-and-white ceramics. The most popular period for these bottles, both in paintings and in ceramics, was the seventeenth century (Pope, Survey, pls.795-797 and 806B-809).
Some of the ceramic examples are monochrome glazed; others are painted in luster, blue or polychrome colors while several show relief or pierced decorations. The body shapes vary slightly but the long tapered neck is always distinctly present (see No.93 for its representations on a plate).
Provenance:
To 1906
Julius Spier, London, to 1906 [1]
From 1906 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Julius Spier in 1906 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 10, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2022] (September 3, 2022 - ongoing)
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2017-2019] (October 14, 2017 to January 2, 2019)
The Peacock Room Comes to America [2011-2016] (April 9, 2011 to January 4, 2016)
Visual Poetry: Paintings and Drawings from Iran (December 16, 2001 to May 5, 2004)
Riza-i Abbasi Album (May 10, 1985 to September 3, 1985)
Ceramics from the World of Islam (January 16, 1974 to July 1, 1974)
The Peacock Room (May 2, 1923 to February 21, 2011)
