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Lot Essay
In many ways, this strong terracotta panel bears close resemblance to three that sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lots 88, 89 and 90. In the catalogue note that accompanied those, similarities were drawn between them and the carved panels that decorate the Mausoleum of the Ghurid Sultan Ghiyath al-Din which was constructed early in Herat the 13th century (Robert Hillenbrand, 'The Ghurid Tomb at Herat', in Warwick Ball and Leonard Harrow ed. Cairo to Kabul: Afghan and Islamic Studies presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson, London, 2002). The inscription band on the interior of the east bay with its distinctive terminals is similar to our calligraphic panel as well as to that which sold in 2012 (Hillenbrand, op.cit. pl. 12.18, p. 137).
Our panel however is somewhat bolder in some ways – without the thin scrolling vine that runs behind the letters in the Herat frieze, but instead with slightly stronger leaves which are an extension of the upstrokes of the letters. The knotted panel above the ‘ayn on our panel is also notably absent in Ghurid Mausoleum. It is found on a tile from the Shah-i Zinda in Samarkand, in which a turquoise inscription stands out against a background free from glaze (Arthur Lane, A Guide to the Collection of Tiles, London, 1960, p.9, pl.7a). This may indicate a different attribution and slightly later date for our panel.
Our panel however is somewhat bolder in some ways – without the thin scrolling vine that runs behind the letters in the Herat frieze, but instead with slightly stronger leaves which are an extension of the upstrokes of the letters. The knotted panel above the ‘ayn on our panel is also notably absent in Ghurid Mausoleum. It is found on a tile from the Shah-i Zinda in Samarkand, in which a turquoise inscription stands out against a background free from glaze (Arthur Lane, A Guide to the Collection of Tiles, London, 1960, p.9, pl.7a). This may indicate a different attribution and slightly later date for our panel.