Fritware bowl, covered with a white slip and painted in olive green and blue under a transparent glaze

Timurid ceramics was generally decorated in blue and black. The olive green that was used on this dish is quite unusual and anticipates the later, more colorful pottery that was made under the Safavids.

The decoration was inspired by motifs from blue and white Chinese porcelain from the mid-14th century. The four sections are a further development of Chinese “cloud panels.” Inside them are overlapping blue concentric circles, which on Chinese porcelain denote waves. The central section was also evidently based on Chinese ornamentation – one of the most important elements in the “international Timurid style.”