拍品专文
The carved decoration of our panel is of very fine quality, particularly in the centre pieces. These comprise floral scrolls and arabesques comprising naturalistic flowers, owing much to contemporary Timurid kitabhana designs. An end panel from the same cenotaph was offered at Sotheby's in 1992 (Islamic Works of Art, London, 29th April, 1992, p. 51, lot 89) bearing both the name of the individual commemorated and the date of his death: Darwish Muhammad Shah ibn Yusuf Shah who died at the end of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal in the year AH 856/1452-53 AD.
The cenotaph from which our panel came pre-dates a number of other dated wooden examples from the Timurid period, one dated AH 902/1496-7 AD and made in Sari, Northern Iran (see Sotheby's, Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles, London, 20th April 1983, p. 77. lot 139), one dated AH 886/1481 AD, now in the al-Sabah Collection, (Sotheby's, Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles, London, 12th October 1982, pp. 76-77, lot 60) and another dating from AH 877/1473 AD in the Rhode Island School of Design (Pope, A.U.: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl. 1472).
All those cenotaphs compare in the way they are constructed of smaller mosaic pieces, the largely geometric layout of the surface and the decorative repertoire of the details contained within. The piece published by Pope (op. cit) mentions in the inscription that it was made for a ruler of the Baduspanid dynasty of Mazandaran. One of the pieces sold at Sotheby's was furthermore made in Sari (Sotheby's, op.cit, 1983), which suggests a Northern Iranian origin for the group.
The cenotaph from which our panel came pre-dates a number of other dated wooden examples from the Timurid period, one dated AH 902/1496-7 AD and made in Sari, Northern Iran (see Sotheby's, Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles, London, 20th April 1983, p. 77. lot 139), one dated AH 886/1481 AD, now in the al-Sabah Collection, (Sotheby's, Islamic Works of Art, Carpets and Textiles, London, 12th October 1982, pp. 76-77, lot 60) and another dating from AH 877/1473 AD in the Rhode Island School of Design (Pope, A.U.: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl. 1472).
All those cenotaphs compare in the way they are constructed of smaller mosaic pieces, the largely geometric layout of the surface and the decorative repertoire of the details contained within. The piece published by Pope (op. cit) mentions in the inscription that it was made for a ruler of the Baduspanid dynasty of Mazandaran. One of the pieces sold at Sotheby's was furthermore made in Sari (Sotheby's, op.cit, 1983), which suggests a Northern Iranian origin for the group.