CENTRAL IRAN, CIRCA 1215

An unusual feature of this lot is the presence of animals in the field behind the calligraphy, including canines and hares. Such creatures are commonly found on star tiles, but rarely on calligraphic friezes such as this. An example featuring birds together with hares and foxes is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc.no. M73.5.143). A fragmentary tile in the British Museum - while it lacks the animals in the background - shares with the present lot the knotted lower border and a similar frieze of palmettes at the top.

While the right hand edge of our tile is now lacking, on the left hand side there is the original edge. There, the long shaft of the alef has been used to cover the seam between two tiles. The palmette in the upper register has been similarly designed to overlap with the design beside it. An interlocking frieze of similar moulded Kashan tiles is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc.no. 1481 B-1876). That frieze also has the lustre set against a white background and a similar monumental style of calligraphy, with particularly elongated upstrokes. It is associated with the redecoration of the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad in 1215.