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Lot Essay
This tile shows the Masjid al-Haram and has inscrpitions marking significant places including the Black Stone, the well of Zamzam, the Station of Abraham (Maqam Ibrahim), the Stations for the Imams of the Hanbali, Hanafi and Maliki schools and the two domes used for the storage of carpets and candles (qubbat al-farsh, taq-i shu'al).
Although the function of tiles which depict the Holy Shrines are unknown, they may have been intended to decorate walls in houses or palaces, possibly marking the status of an owner as someone who has performed the pilgrimage. Some tiles are still found in situ in mosques, usually on the qibla wall, intended to draw the eyes of the faithful in the direction of prayer (Venetia Porter (ed.), Hajj. Journey to the Heart of Islam, exhibition catalogue, 2012, p.118).
Ottoman religious manuscripts produced in the 16th century provide a plentiful source of comparative examples of depictions of the Kaaba and the sanctuary of the Great Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram). The Dala'il al-Khayrat and Futuh al-Haramayn are the two main literary works of this genre. The Futuh al-Haramayn, a description of pilgrimage routes and holy cities by Muhi al-Din Lari (d. in 1526), gives a very similar example of a topographic view as seen in our tile. The first illustrated example of a Futuh al-Haramayn manuscript, dated 1540, is in the Topkapi Saray Museum and shows what became thereafter a classic representation of the Masjid al-Haram and its topographic and symbolic environment (no. R.9617, fol. 14a; E. Atil, The Age of Suleyman the Magnificent, Washington, 1988, p. 65, ill. 22). It is drawn from a flattened perspective, the Kaaba standing in the centre of the rectangular courtyard, surrounded by a double colonnade, the inner arcades being semicircular and forming a key-hole shape. In that illustration, the six minarets point inwards into the haram. In all but the minarets - which on our tile are contained within the central enclosure and are all arranged pointing up and not in towards the Kaaba - the arrangement is very similar.
The arrangement of minarets on our tile sets it aside from the published comparables. Known tiles depicting Mecca show considerable variety in their depiction of minarets - but the majority either point in towards the Kaaba (such as on a tile in the Museum at Bursa, published by Kurt Erdmann, 'Ka'bah-Fliesen', Ars Orientalis, vol.III, Washington D.C., 1959, abb.6, p.194) or up, but with three minarets within the main enclosure and another four in the borders to either side (see for example a tile that sold at Christie's, Paris, 7 November 2006, lot 210). Ours appears to be unique in its arrangement. The number of minarets provide us with a terminus post quem for our tile. The seventh minaret was added to the haram of Mecca during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617), so our tile, which clearly depicts all seven, must post date that period.
The earliest known tiled depiction of Mecca is on the eastern wall of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and is dated to 1642. Examples are known into the 18th century. Blair and Bloom suggest that the majority of the tiles that depict the Kaaba were probably produced between 1640-75 (S. Blair and J. Bloom, The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250-1800, London, 1994, p.247).
The slightly off-white colour of the ground on our tile is similar to another sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2005, lot 52 and a tile in the Benaki Museum, Athens (Mikhail Piotrovsky and John Vrieze (eds.), Earthly Beauty, Heavenly Art, Amsterdam, 1999, no.15, p.79). The Benaki museum tile depicts two feet, representing the holy footprints of the Prophet, and bears a date of AH 1118/1706 AD, remarkably late for Iznik. Another tile with a similar palette is in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo and was recently exhibited in the Hajj exhibition at the British Museum (Porter, op.cit., fig. 79, p.119). That tile was both signed ('Sahib Muhammad Agha'), and dated (AH 1074/1663 AD). It counts amongst its distinctive features - clusters of small ewers, probably made to represent containers of zamzam water. Porter refers to this as a 'new' feature, unknown in earlier tiles. Ewers are also found on ours. This all seems to support a date of the second half of the 17th century for our tile.
A thermoluminecense test, performed by Arcadia on the 31st January 2001, confirms the proposed dating for this tile.
Although the function of tiles which depict the Holy Shrines are unknown, they may have been intended to decorate walls in houses or palaces, possibly marking the status of an owner as someone who has performed the pilgrimage. Some tiles are still found in situ in mosques, usually on the qibla wall, intended to draw the eyes of the faithful in the direction of prayer (Venetia Porter (ed.), Hajj. Journey to the Heart of Islam, exhibition catalogue, 2012, p.118).
Ottoman religious manuscripts produced in the 16th century provide a plentiful source of comparative examples of depictions of the Kaaba and the sanctuary of the Great Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haram). The Dala'il al-Khayrat and Futuh al-Haramayn are the two main literary works of this genre. The Futuh al-Haramayn, a description of pilgrimage routes and holy cities by Muhi al-Din Lari (d. in 1526), gives a very similar example of a topographic view as seen in our tile. The first illustrated example of a Futuh al-Haramayn manuscript, dated 1540, is in the Topkapi Saray Museum and shows what became thereafter a classic representation of the Masjid al-Haram and its topographic and symbolic environment (no. R.9617, fol. 14a; E. Atil, The Age of Suleyman the Magnificent, Washington, 1988, p. 65, ill. 22). It is drawn from a flattened perspective, the Kaaba standing in the centre of the rectangular courtyard, surrounded by a double colonnade, the inner arcades being semicircular and forming a key-hole shape. In that illustration, the six minarets point inwards into the haram. In all but the minarets - which on our tile are contained within the central enclosure and are all arranged pointing up and not in towards the Kaaba - the arrangement is very similar.
The arrangement of minarets on our tile sets it aside from the published comparables. Known tiles depicting Mecca show considerable variety in their depiction of minarets - but the majority either point in towards the Kaaba (such as on a tile in the Museum at Bursa, published by Kurt Erdmann, 'Ka'bah-Fliesen', Ars Orientalis, vol.III, Washington D.C., 1959, abb.6, p.194) or up, but with three minarets within the main enclosure and another four in the borders to either side (see for example a tile that sold at Christie's, Paris, 7 November 2006, lot 210). Ours appears to be unique in its arrangement. The number of minarets provide us with a terminus post quem for our tile. The seventh minaret was added to the haram of Mecca during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617), so our tile, which clearly depicts all seven, must post date that period.
The earliest known tiled depiction of Mecca is on the eastern wall of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and is dated to 1642. Examples are known into the 18th century. Blair and Bloom suggest that the majority of the tiles that depict the Kaaba were probably produced between 1640-75 (S. Blair and J. Bloom, The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250-1800, London, 1994, p.247).
The slightly off-white colour of the ground on our tile is similar to another sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2005, lot 52 and a tile in the Benaki Museum, Athens (Mikhail Piotrovsky and John Vrieze (eds.), Earthly Beauty, Heavenly Art, Amsterdam, 1999, no.15, p.79). The Benaki museum tile depicts two feet, representing the holy footprints of the Prophet, and bears a date of AH 1118/1706 AD, remarkably late for Iznik. Another tile with a similar palette is in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo and was recently exhibited in the Hajj exhibition at the British Museum (Porter, op.cit., fig. 79, p.119). That tile was both signed ('Sahib Muhammad Agha'), and dated (AH 1074/1663 AD). It counts amongst its distinctive features - clusters of small ewers, probably made to represent containers of zamzam water. Porter refers to this as a 'new' feature, unknown in earlier tiles. Ewers are also found on ours. This all seems to support a date of the second half of the 17th century for our tile.
A thermoluminecense test, performed by Arcadia on the 31st January 2001, confirms the proposed dating for this tile.