Bowl with antique decoration of a figure, Eastern Samanid Iran, Nishapur, 10th century Bowl on a small circular foot in clay ceramic, decorated with engobes and pigments on slip under a transparent glaze, depicting a figure with a long headdress about to sit on a throne, a leafy branch in his right hand. The scene is surrounded by pseudo-inscriptions, animals and flowers on the background, and a frieze of petals on the outer wall. Diameter: 18.2 cm Restorations, small sampling perforations on the heel. This bowl belongs to the group of so-called "buffware" ceramics produced in Nishapur, capital of the Samanid dynasty and a major center for the arts of fire, in the 10th century. Distinguished from the majority of locally-produced pieces by the buff color of their paste, which gave them this name, these ceramics, whose palette is often limited to yellow, green and black, have a predominantly figurative decoration treated with a certain archaism. Ibexes and partridges, warriors riding horses and festive scenes are all reminiscent of the art of pre-Islamic Iran and its epic iconography. Here, our figure, probably of princely origin, holds a leafy branch in his right hand and his shoulders are framed by four long black panels, two accessories frequently seen on ceramics of this type, such as a bowl from the Khalili Collection in London (POT 389). The branch has been interpreted by some researchers as a reminiscence of the thyrse in Dionysian iconography found in Greco-Roman and Sassanid art, while the black panels framing the figure are sometimes seen as braids, sometimes as extensions of a scarf or cape1. Here, the subject is caught in the act of sitting on a small throne. The almost improbable freeze-frame, the roundness of the figure's form and the way his eyes focus on the bridge of his nose lend an almost humorous note to the setting, as is often the case with pieces from this group. 1Oya Pancaroğlu, "Feasts of Nishapur: Cultural Resonances of Tenth-Century Ceramic Production in Khurasan" in In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, ed. Mary McWilliams, 2013, p 5. A Samanid Buffware Bowl decorated with a Figure, Eastern Iran, Nishapur, 10th century Philippe Magloire Collection - Lots 132 to 207