This splendid turquoise-blue glazed bowl originates from Western Asia, probably made in Kashan or Nishapur, in Persia and it is dated to the Seljuq (Saljuq/Seljuk) period, ca. 12th to 13th century CE. The glazed bowl has the typical conical shape, a rounded base resting on a short cylindrical foot, the interior decorated with a moulded continuous pseudo-calligraphic band on the cavetto, and a flower motif in the medallion at the centre. The glaze covers all of the interior and nearly half of the exterior. The ceramic its very fine and extremely light, highlighting the superior quality of its manufacture.

Ceramic production in twelfth-century Syria and Iran witnessed the further development of stonepaste, an innovative material first introduced in the 11th century. This ceramic medium—also called fritware or siliceous ware—is made of finely ground quartz (obtained from pounding pebbles or sand), which is then mixed with small amounts of liquefied glass (glass frit or glass fragments) and refined clay. In the twelfth century, stonepaste production became one of the dominant production technologies used, allowing advances in new decorative techniques such as underglaze painting. Fritware was invented to produce vessels with a strong white body, which, combined with the tin- glazing on the surface, allowed them to approximate the result of Chinese porcelain. True porcelain was not manufactured in the Islamic world until several centuries later whereas in the meantime the finest Islamic pottery was made of fritware.
While glazed ceramics made with stonepaste are traditionally linked to centres such as "Kashan" or "Raqqa", recent archaeological excavations have demonstrated that these types of wares were produced in other centres as well.