PROBABLY FROM THE MADRASA AL-GHIYASIYYA, KHARGIRD, 1444

Details

A TIMURID BLUE, BLACK AND WHITE POTTERY TILE PANEL
PROBABLY FROM THE MADRASA AL-GHIYASIYYA, KHARGIRD, 1444
Comprising two half star tiles with white arabesques reserved against a blue ground, a central small square tile with rosette on blue, four pentagonal small tiles with blue and black palmettes on white, four polygonal tiles each with a radiating palmette vine design, and two small similar triangular tiles, mounted in a plaster frame with replacement tiles in the corners, some tiles with repaired breaks, two polygonal tiles composite
Overall 28 x 18in. (71 x 46cm.)

Provenance

Henri Rene d'Allemagne, Paris
The Madina Collection, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost

Literature

H.R. D'Allemagne: La maison d'un vieux collectionneur, Paris, 1948, pls. CLXII and CLXIII

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

In the earlier twentieth century this panel formed a dado to the right of a door from Khiva in the Paris house of Henri Rene d'Allemagne. To the left of the door was a slightly larger panel of tiles from the same group. These tiles were all originally made for the west iwan in the madrasa al-Ghiyyathiyya at Khargird, founded in 1444 (B. O'Kane: Timurid Architecture in Khurasan, Costa Mesa. Ca., 1987, fig.22.10). This building is better known for its cuerda seca tiles, examples of which appear on the market at regular intervals (see one sold in these Rooms from the Theodor Sehmer Collection, 27 April 2004, lot 204.

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