Kashan Turquoise Sweetmeat Dish, 12th-13th Century CE
Stonepaste
Diameter: 18 cm
LI.3205
This is a rare Kashan turquoise-glazed ceramic sweetmeat dish dated to the 12th or 13th century. The body of the sweetmeat has been made with fritware or stonepaste and has...
This is a rare Kashan turquoise-glazed ceramic sweetmeat dish dated to the 12th or 13th century. The body of the sweetmeat has been made with fritware or stonepaste and has seven circular compartments or wells and each compartment would have been used to serve an item. A small handle is also attached above the central well. The dish is finely decorated with a brilliant turquoise glaze on both the interior and the exterior, a decoration typical of the Kashan period. Turquoise has a special benevolent semantics in Persian culture due of the homonymy of Persian words firuza – turquoise (gemstone) and firuzi - victory, prosperity. The high quality of the decoration suggests that this dish was a unique and rare piece which would have been used to serve important guests, likely during ceremonies or formal dinners. Traditionally, sweetmeat dishes were a type of dish which came in various forms, styles and sizes, used for serving sweetmeats, namely small-shaped pieces of confectionary to be eaten at the end of the meal. Confections were edible status symbols that were presented in precious plates, and the culture of sweetness was one of luxury.
The material of which this dish is made is also very distinctive and special. Indeed, fritware or siliceous ware 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. Manufacture of stonepaste in the eleventh century began very similarly in Syria and Iran but in the twelfth century, stonepaste production expanded significantly, as witnessed by a substantial increase in production centres. This new type of material also 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.
A very similar dish but decorated with luster paint is housed at the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, inv. no. 2002.50.59. The Harvard Museum website also features a video demonstrating the interior of their dish as well as how it was probably manufactured: http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/165023.
The material of which this dish is made is also very distinctive and special. Indeed, fritware or siliceous ware 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. Manufacture of stonepaste in the eleventh century began very similarly in Syria and Iran but in the twelfth century, stonepaste production expanded significantly, as witnessed by a substantial increase in production centres. This new type of material also 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.
A very similar dish but decorated with luster paint is housed at the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, inv. no. 2002.50.59. The Harvard Museum website also features a video demonstrating the interior of their dish as well as how it was probably manufactured: http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/165023.