Some of the distinctive characteristics of this seventeenth century Iranian bowl include its red luster paint with metallic reflections, a "piercing" on one foot, and a slightly cracked rim. The imperfection, a sign of the vessel's antiquity, may have been part of its appeal to Freer, who considered it "rare and important." He purchased this stone-paste bowl from Dikran Kelekian as part of a group acquisition in 1903. In 1908, he displayed it in the Peacock Room with a grouping of similar bowls, on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway.

Bowl

17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted in lustre over glaze

HxW: 9.5 x 18.5 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

3

North

Bowl

F1903.225

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1903.225.jpg

Freer purchased this late seventeenth-century Iranian bowl from the Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian in 1903, likely as part of a group acquisition of similar ceramic objects. Freer called this piece a "beautiful specimen," and thought it related closely in design to some of his other purchases from that dealer. Perhaps because of this, when Freer displayed the vessel in the Peacock Room in Detroit, he placed it in close proximity to those similar items, on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway.

Bowl

2nd half of the 17th century

Safavid period

Stone-paste painted with lustre

HxW: 9.3 x 18.4 cm

Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

2

North

Bowl

F1903.7

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1903.7.jpg

Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Freer began to purchase Near Eastern pottery to complement his already substantial holdings of East Asian ceramics. In 1908 he would travel to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to seek examples directly from local dealers. Excavations had brought sizable quantities of these wares to the European art market. The Paris-based dealer Dikran Kelekian was an early purveyor of examples of pieces like this bowl, which Freer acquired from him in 1903. In his inventory notes, Freer described it as an "interesting specimen for students" of Persian pottery. In the Peacock Room in Detroit, he displayed it on a corner shelf adjacent to the main doorway, grouped with two similar examples that he had purchased in the same year.

Bowl

17th-18th century

Stone-paste painted over glaze

HxW: 8.1 x 14.1 cm

Probably Iran

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

2

1

North

Bowl

F1903.195

Dikran G. Kelekian

Paris

France

http://141.217.97.109/plugins/Dropbox/files/peacock-jpg/JPEG/F1903.195.jpg