MOROCCO, 14TH CENTURY

Details

EIGHT ALMOHAD OR MARINID SQUARE INSCRIPTION TILES
Morocco, 14th century
From partial inscriptions, of red earthenware with dark manganese glaze cut away and whitened to reveal a naskh inscription, leafy interlace in the spandrels, tiles chipped
Each approx. 3¾in. (9.5cm.) square (8)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The inscriptions are probably Arabic verses; they are not from the Qur'an.

Tiles of this type, with the very elegant spiralling background design seen here, are found in a number of buildings in Morocco dating from the 14th century. Examples are the madarsat al-'Attarin, the madarsat al-Bu'naniyyah, and the madrasa Bin Yusuf, all in Fez (Hedgecoe, John and Damluji, Salma Samar: Zilij, the Art of Moroccan Ceramics, Morocco, 1992).

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