Bowl

Lajvardina ware (from the Persian lajvard, meaning “lapis lazuli” or “cobalt”) replaced minai ware as the preferred decorative ceramic by the early 1300s. Nonfigurative designs like this were the most common. On a cobalt blue background, designs were rendered in white and filled with small white and red details with accents of gold leaf. The use of gold and cobalt, both costly materials, along with the complicated firing process made these objects expensive and difficult to produce. Not many such objects are thought to have been made, both because of the expense and because increasing demand for ceramics with more of a Chinese flavor may have caused lajvardina ware to seem old fashioned.