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PROPERTY FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF LOCKWOOD DE FOREST (1850-1932)This collection of rare Mamluk tiles was formed by the American artist and interior designer Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932), probably with the intention of decorating his New York house at 7 East Tenth Street, Manhattan. Although described as the ‘most Indian house in America’, Tenth street was adorned with walls of Islamic tiles, demonstrating that De Forest’s interest was not limited to India but encompassed the ‘Orient’, from the Middle East to Japan. Photographs from Tenth Street taken circa 1900 and in 1912 show Damascus tiles in the Entrance Hall and in the Conservatory (Roberta A. Mayer, Lockwood de Forest, Furnishing the Gilded Age with a Passion for India, Lanham, 2014, p.15 and p.23) identical to some in the present collection. The house was published in House Beautiful in 1900, with a focus on the Entrance Hall, Parlour and Dining Room which served both as living quarters and as de Forest’s commercial showrooms (Mayer, ibid, p.19). Although painting was Lockwood de Forest's initial passion, he was well-known during his lifetime as an interior designer and as an associate of Louis Tiffany (until 1883) – both were heavily influenced by their travels East. Lockwood de Forest trained as a painter in Rome where he studied in 1868. There he became close friend with the American landscape painter Frederick Church who was returning from a tour in Egypt and Lebanon. De Forest’s was greatly inspired by sketches Church made of his travels and by the house Church built for himself in Olana, Hudson which incorporated Islamic designs. However it is only after his friend Tiffany’s return from North Africa in the early 1870s that De Forest decided to visit the region. He arrived in Egypt in December 1875 and in April 1876, he reached Damascus, Syria where he was ‘first introduced to the old Islamic tiles that would eventually cover several walls of his Tenth Street house’ (Mayer, ibid, p.33). He was amongst the first Americans to collect these tiles, and built an extensive collection both for him and for decorating the homes of his clients. Carswell records that he bought over 1,200 tiles in Damascus in the 1880s (John Carswell, 'Six Tiles', in Richard Ettinghausen (ed.), Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972, p.104). He was willing to pay ‘five dollars apiece and more for complete sets, prices that were expensive even then. Enamoured of their beauty and convinced of their intrinsic value, de Forest [..] would continue to collect these tiles for [much of the rest of his life] paying still higher prices, and building up a sizable collection’ (Mayer, ibid, p.33).

A MAMLUK HEXAGONAL POTTERY TILE

DAMASCUS, SYRIA, CIRCA 1420-50

Details

A MAMLUK HEXAGONAL POTTERY TILE
DAMASCUS, SYRIA, CIRCA 1420-50
The white ground painted in cobalt-blue with a large and elegant swaying spray with two flower-bearing branches
7 ½in. (19cm.) across

Provenance

Lockwood de Forest, late 19th century, and thence by descent to the present owner

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The precise attribution of similar blue and white hexagonal tiles has been surveyed on a number of occasions. John Carswell examined the known examples, citing that the largest groups were preserved in situ in two fifteenth century structures - one in the mosque of Murad II in Edirne, built in 1435-36 and the other in the mosque of Ghars al-Din al-Khalil al-Tawrizi in Damascus (d. 1430), begun in 1423 (John Carswell, 'Six Tiles', in Richard Ettinghausen (ed.), Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972, p.99). Aside from these there are significant groups in the Islamic Museum in Cairo, the Kataeesh mosque in Sidon, the tomb of Çem in the Muradiye royal cemetery in Bursa, the Kaylani mosque in Hama, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (413-1898; 423-1898; 108-1881 and 109-1881 among others). His analysis defined three main groups - those from Turkey, which are stylistically quite distinct, and those from Syria and Egypt, between which there are a number of overlaps. By the 1980s however the pendulum was beginning to swing back towards Syria for the majority of the group, when a number were exhibited in America mostly because of clear Syrian provenance (Esin Atil, Renaissance of Islam. Art of the Mamluks, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., 1981, pp.176-182). The tiles reflect the impact of Chinese ceramics, particularly the blue and white colour scheme that reflects the ceramics of the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

This exquisitely painted tile stands out amongst the production of Damascus pottery in the 15th century. The drawing of the exuberant flower heads is supple, freely executed yet filling the strict hexagonal frame without appearing constricted by it. It is designed to be set on its point such as two hexagonal tiles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which display similar features but fail to achieve such vibrant rendition of life (inv.no.67.69.5 and inv.no.67.69.6). A tile in the Victoria and Albert Museum the closest comparable example to ours with three fern-like branches filling the hexagonal space. It is attributed to Damascus, circa 1420-50 (inv.no.108-1881).

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