Calouste Gulbenkian acquired this exceptional piece of lusterware, made in Raqqa (Syria), through the Armenian dealer Dikran Kelekian in December 1907. The date coincides closely with the ‘Great Find’ at Raqqa, when a group of Circassian refugees excavated a series of jars, ‘each of which contained perfectly preserved specimens of the finest Er Rakka pottery’.

Armenian dealers orchestrated their sale, astutely associating the find with the caliph Harun al-Rashid (d. 809), who appears in One Thousand and One Nights and made Raqqa his capital in 796. Interest soared and there was a frenzy for these ceramics.

Gulbenkian paid a very high price even at this early date. While we may never be certain if this pot was part of the find, its excellent state of conservation, still with its original cover, makes it a remarkable object, which later scholars would date some four hundred years later.