From either Meshed or Kashan, the dish is decorated with a nine-pointed flowerhead in white slip and the base carries a pseudo Chinese seal mark.
It is set within a Charles II silver-gilt mount chased with putti amongst trailing foliage on a matted ground, and supported on a spreading foot with a maker’s mark IV, 24 cm.
The dish appears in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, an inventory listing an enormous bequest from Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689), to her daughter, Anne, Countess of Exeter (1649-1703).
Under the heading ‘Silver and Guilt things and Steele’ is ‘A China salver with a Guilt border of Silver chased and a Guilt ffoot.’
Chinese porcelain had arrived in what is now Iran from as early as the 14th Century.
Local potters copied these wares, particularly in the 17th Century, when the much sought after imported Chinese porcelain had become more sophisticated, as had their own local materials.
It was also common for them to copy the Chinese reign marks.
