ʿABD-AL-VĀḤED, a potter whose signature is found on a blue and black underglaze painted dish dated 971/1563. The center of the dish is decorated with a formal arabesque mesh, surrounded by a series of roundels containing the signs of the zodiac. The dish is important not only for its signature, but for the fact that it is one of the few pieces of pottery that can be securely dated to the 16th century. It is now preserved in the Islamic Museum, East Berlin.
Bibliography: A. Lane, Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, p. 93, pl. 53a.
(O. Watson)
Originally Published: December 15, 1982
Last Updated: July 15, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 167
O. Watson, “'Abd-Al-Vahed,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 167; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-vahed-16th-century-potter (accessed on 16 January 2014).
