This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Dish

Location:

Doha, Qatar

Holding Museum:

Museum of Islamic Art

About Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

Date of Object:

Hegira 4th century / AD 10th century

Museum Inventory Number:

PO.24.1999

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Earthenware, Slip, Glaze; Slip Painting

Dimensions:

Diameter: 42.5 cm, depth 5.3 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Samanid

Provenance:

Iran or Central Asia

Description:

This dish is one of the finest known examples of the celebrated black-and-white wares, often referred to as "Nishapur ware". The inscriptions illustrate the social and literary interests of the dishes' owners. The text here is a proverb attributed to Yahya ibn Ziyad: "He who is unable to have an opinion will lose his chance". The inscription is revealed as the contents are eaten - providing an exemplary 'conversation piece' with which to conclude a social gathering of scholars.

How Object was obtained:

Forughi Collection, Iran; Private Collection, Geneva sometime before the Islamic Revolution, where it remained until it was formally acquired by the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha in 1999 from London Art Market

Selected bibliography:

Gonnella, Julia, et al., Museum of Islamic Art: The Guide London: Thames & Hudson, 2022.

Seipel, Joseph H., God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.

Soueif, Ahdaf, Reflections on Islamic Art, Doha: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2011.

Watson, Oliver, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2008.

Citation of this web page:

Tara Desjardins "Dish" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;qt;Mus21;26;en

Prepared by: Tara Desjardins

MWNF Working Number: QT 26