Persian dish with tulip and fish motifs

Persia, Qajar dynasty, last quarter of the 19th century.
Siliceous paste ; decoration painted in black under transparent turquoise blue glaze.

MARK AND INSCRIPTION : Handwritten signature in black under the dish.

Formed from a luxuriant siliceous paste characterized by the exoticism of its decoration painted in black under a transparent turquoise glaze dating from the last quarter of the 19th century, this dish presents a sumptuous and singular decoration occupying the entire surface of the container, composed in the center of three long sinuous and leafy stems, each punctuated by a dazzling tulip flower with outstretched petals intertwined with interlacing motifs of lotus flowers and foliage. Originally from Iran, the tulip owes its name to the Persian tulipan meaning "turban". The rich sultans actually decorated their turbans with this flower which they found particularly beautiful. If the latter is therefore a symbol of wealth, it also represents as a bouquet the passing of time and the cycle of life, with some being born and others fading. All this symbolism is interesting to study in parallel with Qajar art itself. As explained by Gwenaëlle Fellinger, curator of the exhibition "The Empire of Roses" on 19th century Persian art which took place in 2018 at the Louvre-Lens, Qajar art is a political art which served to ensure the The image of a dynasty wanting to be flamboyant and strong.

A narrow strip separates the decoration from the bottom of the marli, or interior rim, while a second, identical one, runs along the lip of the dish. Around the central decoration is a large frieze of fish and plant motifs. A traditional symbol of Persian crafts, the fish is a source of blessing and a sign of prosperity. A 15th century Iranian fish dish with dimensions slightly smaller than ours, 18.9 centimeters in diameter, is today part of the collections of the Department of Islamic Arts of the Louvre Museum in Paris (inv. MAO 698).

This type of dish decorated with tulips and fish was appreciated by great amateurs, both in France and in Europe, during the last third of the 19th century. Iranian works often took European forms while retaining traditional decorative techniques. They reflected the tensions and searches for a new Iranian identity within a world marked by the arrival of modernity. At the same time, the presence of this type of object in European interiors was particularly revealing of Western sensitivity to the seductions of the Near and Far East throughout the 1880s-1890s. While the debate of ideas around the union between the arts and industry raged, relying on their encyclopedic knowledge of foreign styles, collectors therefore grouped together in their interiors with a new character luxury furniture, bronzes, fabrics, and other ceramics with oriental influences (India, Persia), like our dish currently described, and Far Eastern influences (China, Japan). Indeed, these objects perfectly responded to the desire of urbanized man at the end of the 19th century, wishing to recreate an imaginary Orient perfectly adapted to the taste then in vogue at the time for rich and opulent decorations.

Perfect condition.