Islam Vase Type 4

Islamic ornament runs on geometry: interlacing stars, repeating polygons and arabesque scrollwork that carry on past the edge of whatever they are drawn on. That tradition is what this vessel borrows. Being the fourth type in a numbered series, it takes the pattern across the whole body rather than confining it to a band, so the eye follows the repeat around the form instead of stopping at a single motif. The silhouette underneath is deliberately plain, drawn wide through the middle and pulled back in at the neck, which leaves the surface work to do the talking. It suits a hallway table, a mantelpiece or a shelf of books, and takes dried stems, grasses or pampas if you would rather it were filled than standing on its own. It comes as a single model, and printed twice at different scales it reads as a matched pair rather than a repeat.