RARE DISH (TABSIL). MOROCCO, FÈS, 19th CENTURY. Of slightly - Lot 117

RARE DISH (TABSIL). MOROCCO, FÈS, 19th CENTURY. Of slightly hollow circular form, resting on an annular base, in blue glazed earthenware on a white ground, painted with blue cobalt oxide and limonite for the yellow. Decorated with a large mirrored calligraphic composition of the word Allâh in angular style, within an elaborate arcature, on a plant background decorated with bouquets. Scratches, small chips and enamel chips. Mark on the base S for "Serghini" and Fez, and a number: N°223. Diameter: 41cm; Height: 9.3cm. This slightly hollow tabsil dish is one of the few Fez dishes with a free composition whose decoration is not radiating and whose motifs are not distributed from the center. Unlike most earthenware dishes, the decoration spreads out in a fan shape from a vertical axis. The main theme is epigraphic and architectural. The central motif, painted blue and outlined in brown, mirrors the pious formula "Al-Molk", meaning "power" (of God), in a highly stylized braided kufic script. It is framed by a blue-painted poly-lobed arcature, with a bright yellow ribbon inside, reminiscent of the mihrab. This decorative motif with religious connotations was introduced into earthenware towards the end of the 18th century AD, and was still used in the early 19th century. The theme was inspired by similar designs engraved on wooden lintels from the Marinid and Saadian periods. The arcature is extended on both sides by brackets ending in fleurons, and the background is covered with Ottoman-inspired floral motifs. This type of slightly hollow dish was normally used to serve Moroccan pies or bastella, but this one seems to have served a much more decorative and symbolic function than a utilitarian one. The stylistic and comparative study, as well as the greyish, faded blue hue characteristic of dishes from before the second half of the 19th century, was due to the quality of the cobalt oxide, which was still full of impurities until 1850. In fact, it was only from this date onwards that this ore could be completely freed of impurities, enabling the use of new industrial processes to obtain a clear blue in ceramics. Only one other example is published, preserved in the collection of the Batha Museum in Fez, Morocco (inv. 54.794), see : Sijelmassi, Mohamed, Les Arts traditionnels au Maroc, published by ACR, Paris, 1986, cat. 207.