With no handles, this richly decorated bottle has a spherical yet flattened body, supported by a small ring-shaped base. It was probably used for serving drinks, as a piece of tableware.
The vessel, wheel-thrown, is made of light grey-beige clay covered with a white engobe. The decoration appears to be painted in black beneath a magnificent turquoise glaze, which is slightly thicker on the base where it has partially built up.
The technique, form and decoration are characteristic of the highly glossy ceramics produced in the workshops of the city of Kashan, situated in the centre of present-day Iran.
Carved from two fragments of dark green stone mottled with light patches (steatite probably), these two objects represent animals with highly stylized and abstract shapes.
Turned lamp in the shape of a bowl with a pinched nozzle, provided with a tiny round central dish for the lower wick and with a ribbon handle connecting the back of the shoulder to the rim of the central dish.
Our lamp is probably a Near Eastern production dated between the 13th and the 14th century A.D.
A light beige-gray ceramic bowl, covered with a white slip; the decoration is painted in black under a beautiful turquoise glaze, thicker on the bottom where it partially dripped. This manufacturing technique, known as metal luster technique, is among the most important contributions of Islamic craftsmen to the development of ceramics.