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Lot Essay
These corner posts would probably have been integrated into a larger rectangular form as that of a complete cenotaph in the Rhode Island Museum of Art (Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles, 1989, p.207, cat.111). Although later, that cenotaph follows an identical decorative scheme to that of our posts with an inscribed band at top and panels of intricate arabesques below. It was originally in the shrine of the Banuspanid ruler Taj al-Mulk wa al-Din Abu al-Qasim in Mazanderan and is dated 1473.
The kufic inscription along the bottom of these corner posts is identical to that found on a long carved wooden beam in the Aga Khan Museum Collection, datable to 12th or 13th century Iran (Spirit & Life, Masterpieces of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum Collection, Geneva, 2007, p.191, cat.F). It is almost certain that the beam and the present corner posts come from the same workshop, possibly the same cenotaph, the calligraphic style and the carved foliage in the background being identical. However, the inscription repeats a very common word Al-Mulk (Dominion [is God's]) which was probably carved on a large number of pieces. The decoration of a carved door dated 1307-09 and that of a wooden panel from a minbar datable to the 14th century, both from North Iran and published by Arthur Upham Pope, can be paralleled to that of our posts. Although slightly different, they display panels of symmetrically arranged palmette scrolls which relate to those visible in the present posts (Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1939, pl. 1463 and 1464). These comparisons suggest an attribution to 13th or 14th century Iran.
The kufic inscription along the bottom of these corner posts is identical to that found on a long carved wooden beam in the Aga Khan Museum Collection, datable to 12th or 13th century Iran (Spirit & Life, Masterpieces of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan Museum Collection, Geneva, 2007, p.191, cat.F). It is almost certain that the beam and the present corner posts come from the same workshop, possibly the same cenotaph, the calligraphic style and the carved foliage in the background being identical. However, the inscription repeats a very common word Al-Mulk (Dominion [is God's]) which was probably carved on a large number of pieces. The decoration of a carved door dated 1307-09 and that of a wooden panel from a minbar datable to the 14th century, both from North Iran and published by Arthur Upham Pope, can be paralleled to that of our posts. Although slightly different, they display panels of symmetrically arranged palmette scrolls which relate to those visible in the present posts (Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1939, pl. 1463 and 1464). These comparisons suggest an attribution to 13th or 14th century Iran.