This is a very rare piece of safavid pottery from the mid to late 17th century. It is a piece of Persian fritware pottery imitating Chinese Kraak porcelain of the 16th century. Painted in underglaze dark cobalt blue, it has 6 panels of stylized flowers and 6 panels of buddhist auspicious emblems.
To the centre is a bird on rocks with stylized flowers and vegetation. It is also decorated to the underside of the rim with Chinese looking symbols of fan and ribbon I think, and three painted rings. It is not delicately painted but has a charming naivete. I would say it is darker than the pictures seem to show. It is a dark cobalt rather than pale and has an orange peel type glaze.It measures 9 inches or 23 cms diameter and 1.5 inches or 4 cms high. As you can see it has suffered over the last 350 years or so! A large chunk has been glued back on, quite a long time ago I would say from the staining and there is another crack to the left of that from the edge to just inside the centre.
There are also numerous nibbles and chips the the rim and foot as is normal with this type of ware. The cracks and chips have resulted in some staining.
It may be worth having some restoration although personally I think it is all part of its story! If you have any questions or need any more pictures please feel free to get in touch. Please also take a look at other items I will be listing, thank you. The item "EXTREMELY RARE 17TH CENTURY PERSIAN SAFAVID KRAAK FRITWARE DISH" is in sale since Friday, November 25, 2016. This item is in the category "Antiques\Asian/Oriental Antiques\Islamic/Middle Eastern". The seller is "anne6861" and is located in Lanark. This item can be shipped to United States, to European Union member countries, to Canada, to Australia.