Medium-size semispherical bowl with flared flattened rim on low ring-foot.
A figure with large almond-shaped eyes below arched eye-brows, richly attired in different kind of drapes, is seated on cushions in a manner known as “indian-style”, while raising the right hand in gesture. As both eyes of the figure are looking towards the same direction, it would be a charming hypothesis to consider that the figure is acknowledging someone outside our vision, to whom the gesture is also possibly addressed. A stylised inscription occupies all the remaining surface of the interior. Around the rim, a row of semilunar motifs.
The so–called “Monumental Style” in the decorative arts derives from the Egyptian Fatimid period and is characterised by large-scale motifs and the bold way by which centrally placed figures dominate the whole composition.
Motifs are shown reserved in white against a background of solid lustre pigment, expressed through large, substantial arabesques or through static and angular Kufic inscriptions.
The motif of the cross-legged figure derived to the Middle East from Central Asia, during the early Islamic period.
The characteristic moon-shaped face of the figure is an element which did not evolve from earlier Egyptian traditions and is well documented through endless literary references to be the Seljuk ideal of beauty.
Though modest in size, this bowl confirms that lustre painters were artists of considerable talent and that their work matches the craftsmanship in all the other mediums of artistic expression during this period.