This bowl is an example of the type of pottery from Nishapur, a trading and manufacturing city located in eastern Iran’s Khorasan province on the ancient trade route known today as the Silk Road. Script was a popular feature of decorative objects made in the city. One white bowl is decorated in black with an early form of the Arabic alphabet called Kufic script. Its strong angular contours and symmetrical balance are appropriate to its message, “Praise be to God.”