This is a splendid example of a panel-style bowl, so called because of the wedge-shaped panels that make up its interior decoration. These types of bowls were typically produced in Kashan, one of the primary ceramic centers in Iran during the fourteenth century.
The town of Kashan, as a city associated with high-quality ceramic production in the medieval period, became a distinct point of scholarly attention in the twentieth century. It appears to have been a major site for the manufacture of fine wares between the 1170s and 1220s as well as in the later 13th and early 14th centuries. Vessels like the one presented here were most likely made in moulds. Such moulds were discovered in the excavations of Nishapur and at Jorjan. There are a few fine pieces known, on which the carved decoration is outlined in thin red or gold lines. The monochrome glazed wares were made in Nishapur, Kashan, Jorjan and most likely at Ray.

Indeed, the development of a new type of ceramic material in the 11th century Iran called stonepaste or fritware, promoted advances in established techniques as well as the development of new ones, such as turquoise glazing, of which the present piece is a stunning example, and underglaze painting. This new material is made of finely ground quartz (obtained from grinding pebbles or sand), which is then mixed with small amounts of liquefied glass (glass frit or glass fragments) and refined clay, in order to obtain a very clear paste, with the actual body of the vessels being considerably thinner, almost translucent. In this way, Seljuq potters had nearly achieved the fineness of imported Chinese Sung porcelain which potters of the Near East greatly admired.