An Abbasid highlight of the collection which will be on view is a 9th Century pottery bowl with a Kufic inscription from Iraq, shown here. An exceptional example of early Islamic tin-glazed pottery, it epitomises the powerful abstraction of the early Abbasid style. While the shape imitates a Chinese prototype, the use of cobalt blue is a novel departure that was to have a profound and long-lasting influence on world ceramics. The bowl is estimated at £150,000-200,000. Also featured in the exhibition is an early 13th Century Kashan lustre pottery bottle vase from Persia with inscriptions in Arabic (est. £150,000-200,000), and a Kashan dish depicting an onager or wild donkey, native to the deserts of Iran. The inscriptions include a date of AH609/AD1212-13

Sotheby’s will mount an exhibition at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha on the September 25 which will be highlighted by an exquisite group of 27 Islamic ceramics from the collection of Harvey B. Plotnick, estimated at £2.6-3.6mn.
This selection of ceramics focuses principally on the cultures of Iraq and Iran as well as the trade routes between the Mediterranean and Central Asia.
The exhibition will also feature highlights from the various owners section of Sotheby’s Evening Auction of Islamic Works of Art as well as Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Arab and Iranian sale. Both sales will take place at Sotheby’s London on October 4.