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Seljuk horsemen on a
Bowl with paired riders inscribed with good wishes,
northern Iran, probably in Kashan, late 12th to early 13th centuries

Book painting, both illumination and illustration, had a marked impact on the decorative ceramic tradition of the Islamic Near East in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The underglaze-painting technique had one serious limitation - colour: it was confined to blue and black. In northern Iran, probably in Kashan, was developed the technique of overglaze painting, painting onto the cold glaze with enamel colours which were then fixed in a final, low temperature firing. This enabled the potters to copy and develop the more highly-coloured, artistic ideas already in use among book painters. Objects decorated in the overglaze technique are normally called Minai-ware, from the Arabic word mina, ‘glaze’.

The two figures on the bowl most probably derive from textile designs, in which symmetrical compositions have great technical, and therefore economic, advantages. Moreover, paired horsemen or paired, confronted animals and birds, are common on surviving, early Islamic silks. ‘Minai’ ware was thus drawing not only on illuminated manuscripts, but also on contemporary luxury textiles.

The two figures are probably not part of any specific story or legend. More likely they are to be seen as symbols of the ease and well-being that accompany the courtly life. Their symbolic message is then enhanced by the words of good fortune - peace, well-being, joy, happiness and so on, on the inside of the rim.
Source: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.