Bowl with stylized inscription

Bowls such as this, which scholars have called "refined and minimalist," are among the most visually powerful ceramics ever produced in the Islamic world. Made about 1000 years ago in what is now eastern Iran and the area of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, they are crafted from the simplest of materials: earthenware covered and decorated with a watery clay mixture called slip. Their inscriptions are typically Arabic proverbs or maxims.

The eastern Persian rulers under whose regime they were made fostered a highly sophisticated, multicultural society that included Persians, Arabs, Turks, and others. Of noble heritage, these rulers, the Samanids, championed older Persian artistic and literary forms while adding new Islamic elements, including the Arabic language. The inscription reads "He who is sure of his greatness is content with his powers."