The Treasure of a Persian Princess: A Chinese Porcelain Dish from The Al Thani Collection

The central feature of the display will be a Chinese porcelain dish from the collection of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. The dish with cobalt blue underglaze painting dates from the early 15th century, the reign of the Yongle Emperor (1403–1424), the third ruler of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). To illustrate the influence that Chinese porcelain exerted on Iranian ceramics, the exhibition also includes three Chinese vessels from the 16th century and four examples of Iranian pottery made in the 1500s–1600s from the collection of the State Hermitage.

The dish that is the focus of the exhibition belonged to Mahin Banu Khanum (1519–1562), a daughter of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501–1524), the first ruler of the Iranian Safavid dynasty (1501–1736). An inscription confirming her ownership is engraved on the underside of the dish. Next to it is a stamp indicating that the dish later came into the possession of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (ruled 1628–1658), best known for commissioning one of the gems of world architecture, the Taj Mahal.

The subsequent peregrinations of this unique item cannot be traced right up until 1967, when it was acquired in New York by Alastair Bradley Martin (1915–2010), who assembled a collection of masterpieces of world art known as the Guennol Collection. From 1968 to 1991 the dish was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and from 1991 to 2006 in the Brooklyn Museum. Today, the dish is part of the Al Thani Collection, which has provided it for the exhibition in the State Hermitage.

Mahin Banu’s dish bearing a depiction of grapes is a classic example of a piece of porcelain with blue underglaze painting from the heyday of that art form in China. Around the world there are no more than ten comparable objects dating from the early 15th century. Each of them is unique and differs in its decoration.

It is possible to state with certainty that the dish from the Al Thani collection was among the first articles from China that caught the attention of the higher Iranian nobility and inspired Iranian craftsmen to produce ceramics in the Chinese style. The exquisitely decorated pieces of porcelain from the Celestial Empire with their tough white material and blue decoration were prized as real treasures and became objects of admiration and collection among the highest in the land.

The display of Mahin Banu’s dish alongside items from the Hermitage’s stocks makes it possible to trace the influence Chinese porcelain had on ceramic production in Iran in the 16th and 17th centuries. Specialists identify two tendencies in the decoration of Safavid pottery in the Chinese style. The first was a continuation of traditions that began under the Timurids (inspired by examples of Chinese porcelain from the 14th and 15th centuries), while the second was based on contemporary Chinese prototypes (of the 16th and 17th centuries). An example of an Iranian piece from the 16th century is a dish from the collection of the State Hermitage bearing a depiction of a lotus in the centre. The principle governing the placement of decorative elements here is identical to what we see on Mahin Banu’s dish.

The three other pieces of Chinese porcelain included in the display were created during the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor, who ruled from 1522 to 1566. In that period there was an increasing tendency for porcelain decoration to include motifs associated with Taoism influenced by the tastes of the Emperor, who took a keen interest in that religious philosophy. Far more than previously, the ornamentation of articles included symbols of well-wishing. Apart from plants, it includes depictions of the qilin, a mythical creature symbolizing good and happiness (later also riches), fish (a symbol of success in official matters and sufficiency), the stork (longevity), the phoenix and more. Items made for export and embellished with such motifs came to Iran and influenced the local industry, expanding the repertoire of decorative elements as can be seen in the painting on the Iranian vessels.

A catalogue has been produced for the exhibition (Saint Petersburg: State Hermitage Publishing House, 2020) with a foreword by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani.

The exhibition curator is Lidia Viktorovna Potochkina, a researcher in the State Hermitage’s Department of the East.