Islamic ceramics for Sotheby’s Doha show

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