CENTRAL IRAN, LATE 13TH/EARLY 14TH CENTURY

This tile is very finely decorated and was originally part of a Qur’anic frieze. It was set around the walls of a religious institution such as a mosque, perhaps framing a mihrab, or in a mausoleum. A number of calligraphic tiles related to ours, and now mostly dispersed in western public collections originally, decorated the famed Mausoleum of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Samad in Natanz, executed circa 1304-08. Natanz tiles are in the Louvre, Paris (Inv.No.AD 8070), the British Museum (ME.OA.G.1983.195) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv.no.1485-1876). The beauty and high quality of these tiles meant that they were only used in prestigious buildings, often the result of imperial Ilkhanid patronage. The Mongol restoration of the Friday Mosque in Isfahan included similar tiles, two of which dated AH 709/1309-10 AD and signed by a potter for Kashan are in the British Museum (ME.OA G.1983.197 and 1978.12-30.574). The absence of figural details on our tile, such as birds in the foliage surrounding the inscription, suggests that they were destined to a mosque, where the strict aniconic rule applies. For another lustre tile of similar type, please see lot 29 in this sale.