A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT
A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT
A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT
A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT
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A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT

TIMURID SAMARKAND, CENTRAL ASIA, 14TH CENTURY

Details
A CARVED POTTERY TILE FRAGMENT
TIMURID SAMARKAND, CENTRAL ASIA, 14TH CENTURY
The cobalt-blue ground deeply carved with scrolling arabesques around a strong inscription in white, losses to the glaze, on stand
11 ½ x 10 5/8in. (29.3 x 27cm.)
Provenance
Private UK Collection formed in the 1950s
Bonhams London, 23 April 2013, lot 47
Literature
Arts from the Land of Timur, exhibition catalogue, Sogdiana Books, 2012, no. 444
Sale room notice
The USA prohibits the purchase by US persons of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments. The US sanctions apply to US persons regardless of the location of the transaction or the shipping intentions of the US person. For this reason, Christie’s will not accept bids by US persons on this lot. Non-US persons wishing to import this lot into the USA are advised that they will need to apply for an OFAC licence and that this can take many months to be granted.

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Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam
Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

Lot Essay

This tile once formed part of a larger decorative scheme on the façade of a building. The fragmentary calligraphic inscription along the bottom would have most probably been part of a Qur'anic verse. Similar examples are seen at the extremities of the epigraphic bands of the mausoleum of “an anonymous woman” in Samarkand, dating to 1360 and inside the funerary chamber. They also adorn the facade of two further mausoleums in Samarkand, that of Amir Hoseyn ibn Qara Qutlugh, 1376 and also Shad-e Mulk Aqa, dated post 1371 (see Jean Soustiel and Yves Porter, Tombs of Paradise, Saint-Remy-en-L'Eau 2003, p. 83, pp.89-91, and p. 106).

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