A 'DOME OF THE ROCK' POTTERY TILE
A 'DOME OF THE ROCK' POTTERY TILE
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PROPERTY OF A SWISS LADY
A 'DOME OF THE ROCK' POTTERY TILE

OTTOMAN SYRIA OR PALESTINE, MID-16TH CENTURY

Details
A 'DOME OF THE ROCK' POTTERY TILE
OTTOMAN SYRIA OR PALESTINE, MID-16TH CENTURY
The tile painted under the glaze in cobalt-blue, white, turquoise and black, depicting part of a larger rosette beside an arabesque tendril
7 5⁄8 x 8in. (19.5 x 20.5cm.)
Provenance
By repute, acquired by the present owner from London trade, 1980s

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Lot Essay


This tile belongs to a group produced in Ottoman Jerusalem or Damascus by craftsmen from Istanbul who were working on the refurbishment of the Dome of the Rock under Sultan Süleyman (r.1520-1566). There were at least nine different types of flower in the frieze, painted in a bold manner intended to be read from a distance. E.T. Richmond suggested these tiles were designed for a band above the section of Qur'anic inscription in the upper octagon of the Dome of the Rock (E.T. Richmond, The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Oxford, 1924). Similar tiles are published in Arthur Millner, Damascus Tiles, London, 2015. A very similar tile was published in Spink, Gopis, Goddesses & Demons: Indian & Islamic Works of Art, exhibition catalogue, London, 2000, p.15, no.6.

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