A LATE TIMURID LUSTRE TILE FRAGMNET
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A LATE TIMURID LUSTRE TILE FRAGMNET

PROBABLY KASHAN, CENTRAL IRAN, DATED 28 JUMADA I AH 905/2 JANUARY 1500 AD

Details
A LATE TIMURID LUSTRE TILE FRAGMNET
PROBABLY KASHAN, CENTRAL IRAN, DATED 28 JUMADA I AH 905/2 JANUARY 1500 AD
Comprising the central panel of a gravestone, with six lines of naskh verging on nasta'liq, flanked by vertical bands of script at each side, divided and flanked by raised cobalt-blue stripes, originally surmounted by an arch, surface chips
5¾ x 11in. (14.4 x 28cm.)
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VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

The inscription in the borders includes part of the blessing of God to Muhammad and the twelve Imams. ('Ali and the twelfth Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi).
The inscription in the centre of the tile informs us that the death of Ustad Ghiyath al-Din son of Ustad Nizam al-Din Shawwa was on the last day of jumadi al-ula, the year 905, corresponding to the jalali date of the month of dey...
Neither the son nor the father are identified.

This is from one of a small series of inscribed tiles which were produced in the late Timurid period. Other complete examples are in the Musée de Sèvres, Paris, dated 886/1481 and in the the Art Institute of Chicago, dated 891/1486. A closely related tile, probably from the same workshop, in situ in Kashan, records the donation of some carpets to the shrine of Shah Yalman in the Kashan bazaar. This latter example is signed by Qutb al-Din al Husayni (Watson, Oliver: Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pls.131-133, pp.160-2).

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