c. 1600
The placement of fish at the bottom of a vessel associated with water is a long-standing tradition in Islamic metalwork and can be seen in several earlier objects in this gallery. However, the form of these swirling fish, with human heads, is characteristic of the Deccan and can be seen in architecture as well as metalwork. Around the rim of this dish is the Throne Verse from the Qur'an in thuluth script against a scrolling vegetal background. The use of thuluth script during this period is also typical of the Deccan and can be paralleled in architecture; in contemporary northern India and Iran, nastaliq was the script of choice. Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.
Diam: 27.9 x H: 2.5 cm (11 x 1 in.)
Pale green glass
Ceramic
19th centurySwedish?Rock crystal
18th-19th centuryChineseTerracotta
6th century BCEGreekTerracotta
RomanBuff earthenware with decoration painted in black and burgundy slips. Upper Yellow River Valley area; Gansu, Qinghai, or Ningxia province.
3rd millennium BCEChineseSilver
17th centuryBritishLightly burnished gray earthenware with modeled and appliqué decoration. Upper Yellow River Valley area; Gansu, Qing hai, or Shaanxi province or Inner Mongolia.
3rd-2nd millennium BCEChineseWhite ware: porcelain with clear glaze
19th-20th centuryKoreanPale blue-green glass
1st-2nd century CERomanJun ware: light gray stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze
11th-12th centuryChinesePlaster