Central Asia, central Afghanistan, Jam in Ghur Province, Ghurid Dynasty, ca. 12th to 13th century CE. A hand-built pottery pitcher displaying a beautiful and neatly arranged register of concentric circles across the upper body. Above the circular program is a register of zigzagging bands with petite triangles within the wide peaks and valleys, and the rim exhibits a strip of petite protrusions. The broad piriform vessel presents atop a squat foot and has an arching handle stretching between the tapered shoulder and tiered neck. The upper rim is of a slightly narrow form, perhaps meant to accommodate a lid. Size: 5.6" W x 7.9" H (14.2 cm x 20.1 cm)

Despite scholars knowing little about the Ghurid Dynasty and its artistic stylings, they do know it had a rich heritage and a unique presentation. The area today known as Jam was once called Firuzkuh, the summer capital of the Ghurid sultanate that was destroyed by the Mongols around 1222 to 1223 CE and rediscovered by international researchers in 1957 because of its huge minaret. A wide profusion of different style vessels seem to have been made in medieval Jam during the short Ghurid Dynasty, which enjoyed brief success in the 12th century before collapsing after the death of its most charismatic rulers; indeed, when the Mongols destroyed it, it seems to have already been a city in decline. The pottery made there is all the more remarkable for the brief window in which it was made.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent D.K. collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s

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#157710

Original lid missing. Small chips to foot, with light abrasions and nicks to body, otherwise intact and very good. Great preservation of geometric motifs across upper body.