Iran
17th century
15″ diameter x 2″ high

An unusually large 17th century Safavid blue and white underglaze pottery fragment from Persia, with a tightly packed foliate design featuring birds, a lion, and architectural screens within a series of cartouches filled with cloudband decorations. Old repairs throughout. This is a very interesting and large survivor, from an old Swedish collection.

There are collectors of old pottery who hunt for visible repairs, like those on this piece, which may have been part of a “study collection”, used to teach restoration techniques.

While it is old and should be handled with care, it is also substantial and quite usable as tableware.