SAFAVID IRAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A CUERDA SECA POTTERY TILE
SAFAVID IRAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
The square tile decorated with a blue border containing white flowers connected by cusped vines, a flying bird in the bottom left, repaired break
9 1/8in. (23.3cm.) square

Special notice

We will invoice under standard VAT rules and VAT will be charged at 20% on both the hammer price and buyer’s premium and shown separately on our invoice. The USA prohibits the purchase by US persons of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments. The US sanctions apply to US persons regardless of the location of the transaction or the shipping intentions of the US person. For this reason, Christie’s will not accept bids by US persons on this lot. Non-US persons wishing to import this lot into the USA are advised that they will need to apply for an OFAC licence and that this can take many months to be granted.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

This tile comes from a large figural composition of the type which became popular during the reign of Shah Abbas I (r.1588-1629). An example of a complete frieze in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (03.9c) is known to have been displayed in a garden pavilion built for the Shah in his new capital in Isfahan. The architectural setting for which this was intended is evoked by the way in which the border is stepped, probably to accommodate a window or roof-beam. Though they continued to be made into the Zand and Qajar period, the fine drawing, colour palette, and ornithological imagery is reminiscent of two white-ground tiles in the Louvre, Paris, which are dated to the second half of the seventeenth century. A further example of a Safavid cuerda seca tile of this type was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 50. For a larger composition of Safavid cuerda seca tiles, see lot 34.

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