Islamic porcelain bowl, Timurid Empire 1370-1507, with 4
lines of blue flowers design
Genuine Islamic bowl, possibly
Timurid Era (14th/15th c.), with a dark and light blue glaze over a white slip
ground with multiple craquelures.
Height: 4" = 10.2 cm;
Diameter: 7.5" = 19 cm;
Condition
Report: Good for the age, intact, glaze with
craquelures, showing scattered glaze flakes and discolorations.
Provenance: old scholar’s collection
(from 1950’s) in New York City, USA.
The Timurid dynasty (Persian: تیموریان), self-designated as Gurkani (Persian: گورکانیان, romanized: Gūrkāniyān, Chagatay: گورکانیان, romanized: Küregen), was a Sunni Muslim[1] dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol origin[2][3][4][5] descended from the warlord Timur (also known as Tamerlane).
The word "Gurkani" derives from "Gurkan", a Persianized form of the Mongolian word "Kuragan" meaning "son-in-law".[6]
This was an honorific title used
by the dynasty as the Timurids were in-laws of the line of Genghis Khan,[7] founder of the Mongol Empire, as Timur had married Saray
Mulk Khanum, a direct
descendant of Genghis Khan. Members of the Timurid dynasty
signaled the Timurid
Renaissance,
and they were strongly influenced by Persian culture[2][8] and established two
significant empires in history, the Timurid Empire (1370–1507) based in Persia and Central Asia, and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) based in the Indian subcontinent.
The origin of the Timurid dynasty goes back to the Mongol tribe known as Barlas, who were remnants of the original Mongol army of Genghis Khan,[2][9][10] founder of the Mongol Empire.
After the Mongol
conquest of Central Asia,
the Barlas settled in what is today southern Kazakhstan, from Shymkent to Taraz and Almaty,
which then came to be known for a time as Moghulistan – "Land of
Mongols" in Persian – and intermingled to a considerable degree with the
local Turkic and Turkic-speaking population, so that at the time of Timur's reign
the Barlas had become thoroughly Turkicized in terms of language and habits.
Additionally, by adopting Islam, the Central Asian Turks and Mongols adopted the Persian literary and high culture[11] which had dominated Central Asia since the early days of Islamic influence.
Persian literature was instrumental in the
assimilation of the Timurid elite to the Perso-Islamic courtly culture.[12]