the frit body of pear-shaped form supported on a short narrow foot, the tapering neck terminating in a moulded cup, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with overglaze decoration in gold, white and red, with four strap-work roundels flanked by upright trees reserved on a foliate scroll ground, the shoulder with keyfret band, the neck and cup with alternating major and minor bands of foliate scroll with pearl borders, the underbelly with fluted patterning

Ex-Japanese private collection

Lajvardina wares derive their name from lajvard which is Persian for lapis lazuli. These distinctive wares were a continuation of the earlier minai technique and are described in Abu'l Qasim's treatise. The only dated example is a tile formerly in Richard Ettinghausen's collection with the date 1315. For a discussion of Lajvardina wares see Grube 1976, p.256.

A similar Lajvardina vase from the H. Kevorkian Collection is illustrated in A.U. Pope, Masterpieces of Persian Art, New York, 1945, p.136, pl.100.