SAMANID CENTRAL ASIA OR IRAN, 10TH CENTURY

The line of pierced roundels, the background filled with diamond shaped motifs and the four-petalled rosettes are elements which can all be closely paralleled with the architectural decoration of the Samanid mausoleum of Isma'il in Bukhara, erected before 943 AD (Arthur U. Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1938, p.264, ill.A-C). Although the decoration of the mausoleum is on a larger scale, the finesse with which the tile fragment has been carved indicates that it was intended to decorate an important monument.