Bowl with Courtly Scene

Persia (Iran)

c. 1180–1220

Stonepaste with overglaze-painted polychromy and gold, Mina’i ware

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A conical stonepaste bowl decorated with a polychrome overglaze-painted scene of figures and Arabic calligraphy. The rim features a repeating pattern of red and gold motifs. The radiating composition of this crisp bowl features a frequent symbol of courtly life in the central medallion: an enthroned person, accompanied by two attendants, framed by four peacocks. Ten smaller figures surround the medallion, and in the next tier a row of 16 smaller figures converse, each highlighted with a brilliant gold halo. All set within decorative registers, this depiction of a Seljuk royal stage, with characteristics such as the figures’ rounded faces, anticipates the modes of imagery used by artists in the early illustrated manuscripts of the Shahnameh, the epic Persian Book of Kings—examples of which can be seen in