Dish

Art Historical Context

This shallow dish draws the eye with its circular form and dense, symmetrical decoration. Two bold blue bands cross at the center, creating an X that divides the interior into four quadrants. Each section holds a lobed medallion filled with stylized flowers and leaves in turquoise, cobalt, and soft white against a darker ground. A narrow border of repeating floral motifs encircles the rim, while the glaze shows gentle wear and subtle iridescence from centuries past. Created in the fourteenth century from stonepaste and painted in underglaze, this work belongs to the rich ceramic tradition of the Islamic world. The unknown artist employed a technique that allowed colors to remain bright and stable beneath the transparent glaze, producing the lively yet balanced composition seen here. Now part of the Metropolitan Museum’s Islamic Art collection, the dish offers visitors a direct encounter with the refined craftsmanship and decorative sensibility of its time.