**Originally Listed At $5000**

Ancient Near East, Islamic, ca. 9th to 11th century CE. A sizeable, hand-blown glass pitcher of striking deep cobalt blue hues, its form presenting an ample piriform body sitting upon a flared foot that was likely formed via trailing as one can see the end of the trail, a tall tubular neck that gently flares at the rim, and a substantial trailed handle joining shoulder to rim and skillfully raised, folded, and tooled in order to create a high decorative round finial at its upper end. Further embellishing the piece is a threadlike trail wrapped around the upper end of the neck. What's more, close inspection reveals the silhouettes of circular motifs arranged in a band just below the midline of the vessel body that were likely painted on the vessel at one time. A stupendous example of ancient glass! Size: 3.625" in diameter x 6" H (9.2 cm x 15.2 cm)

PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-John Jeff Fort collection, Houston, Texas, USA, acquired in the 1990s

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#152848

Some surface wear. Silhouettes of circular motifs suggest that the piece was decorated (painted) at one time. There is a nice pontil mark on underside of base. A pontil scar or mark indicates that a vessel was free-blown, while the absence of such a mark suggests that the work was either mold-blown or that the mark was intentionally smoothed away or wore away over time. Silhouettes of circular motifs arranged in a band just below the midline of the vessel body that were probably painted at one time. Wonderful traces of fiery blue, purple, and silvery iridescence grace the surface in areas.