FROM THE SHAH-I ZINDA, SAMARKAND, CENTRAL ASIA, 1386 AD

Details

A TIMURID MOULDED CUERDA SECA POTTERY TILE
FROM THE SHAH-I ZINDA, SAMARKAND, CENTRAL ASIA, 1386 AD
The turquoise ground moulded with a large chequered raised panels worked with the name Muhammad in "maze" kufic filled with alternating cobalt-blue and red and yellow lozenges, the interstices filled with blue and white linked cartouches and small flowerheads, a band of white linked cartouches along one side, two sides possibly incomplete, crudely repaired breaks, mounted on board
14¼ x 13 3/8in. (36 x 34cm.)

Literature

Zick-Nissen, Johanna (et al): Islamische Keramik, Düsseldorf, 1973, no.184, p.137.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

In her catalogue entry for this tile in the Düsseldorf exhibition, Johanna Zick-Nissen notes similar tiles to this in the entrance portal of the Amir Zadeh Mausoleum at the Shah-i Zindeh complex in Samarkand dating from 1386. They can be seen in a band around the doorway, the details of the design from a distance almost disappearing into a lattice of lozenges (Beaupertuis-Bressand, Frédérique: L'or bleu de Samarkand, Paris, 1997, p.82 amongst other publications). The colour scheme and design, notably with the use of yellow and fine lozenge latticing, can also be sen on the nearly comtemporaneous Mausoleum of Ustad 'Ali Nessefi (1385) (Beaupertuis-Bressand, pp.120-125).

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