A KASHAN MOULDED LUSTRE, COBALT-BLUE AND TURQUOISE GLAZED FRIEZE TILE of rectangular form, the large lower register with lustre ground reserved with spiralling tendrils issuing turquoise palmette and leafy terminals, together with perching birds around a raised cobalt-blue elegant thuluth inscription, a lower border of small panels containing scrolling motifs, the upper register with interlaced arabesques again on a dotted lustre ground, circa 1270-1275 (very slight restoration, some discolouration of glaze)

Details

A KASHAN MOULDED LUSTRE, COBALT-BLUE AND TURQUOISE GLAZED FRIEZE TILE of rectangular form, the large lower register with lustre ground reserved with spiralling tendrils issuing turquoise palmette and leafy terminals, together with perching birds around a raised cobalt-blue elegant thuluth inscription, a lower border of small panels containing scrolling motifs, the upper register with interlaced arabesques again on a dotted lustre ground, circa 1270-1275 (very slight restoration, some discolouration of glaze)
15½ x 14in. (39.4 x 35.6cm.)

Lot Essay

A tile with similar decorative features is in the British Museum, Godman Bequest (Pope, A.U., A Survey of Persian Art, Vol. IX, Ashiya, 1981, p. 725, fig. c). The open, fairly loosely scrolling tendrills and the small rounded birds, both on a clustered comma-leaf background, are common to both pieces. The upper border, however, differs very slightly in the degree of detail on our piece. Both pieces compare to tiles found at Takht-i Sulayman justifying a dating between 1270-75 AD.

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