Lot Essay
For three other tiles dating from the same year see:
Museum f Islamische Kunst, Katalog, Berlin, 1980, no. 480; Sotheby's, Catalogue of Islamic Ceramics, Metalwork, Arms and Armour, Glass and other Islamic Works of Art, 12th April, 1976, lots 105 and 106.
These three tiles all have figural decoration. The decoration of our piece, however, comprises floral decoration of curling scrolls and palmette leafs. All four have thick outlines painted in underglaze cobalt blue in common. Furthermore their central fields are bordered by naskhi inscriptions containing poetic phrases.
Tiles like this one, once part of architectural decoration, give evidence that the production of lustre wares at Kashan was continuous throughout the 13th up to the beginning of the 14th centuries, well into the Mongol and post-Mongol periods (Watson, Oliver, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp. 131-149).
Only one building complex from the 1280s with lustre tile decoration can be identified, the Pir-i Husain mausoleum in Baku. Otherwise there are only individual tiles extant (Watson, 1985, p. 136.). It is thus difficult to attribute the present piece to a known structure.
Museum f Islamische Kunst, Katalog, Berlin, 1980, no. 480; Sotheby's, Catalogue of Islamic Ceramics, Metalwork, Arms and Armour, Glass and other Islamic Works of Art, 12th April, 1976, lots 105 and 106.
These three tiles all have figural decoration. The decoration of our piece, however, comprises floral decoration of curling scrolls and palmette leafs. All four have thick outlines painted in underglaze cobalt blue in common. Furthermore their central fields are bordered by naskhi inscriptions containing poetic phrases.
Tiles like this one, once part of architectural decoration, give evidence that the production of lustre wares at Kashan was continuous throughout the 13th up to the beginning of the 14th centuries, well into the Mongol and post-Mongol periods (Watson, Oliver, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp. 131-149).
Only one building complex from the 1280s with lustre tile decoration can be identified, the Pir-i Husain mausoleum in Baku. Otherwise there are only individual tiles extant (Watson, 1985, p. 136.). It is thus difficult to attribute the present piece to a known structure.