Place your mouse over the imageClassification
Ceramic, Mosaic
Object name
Tile
Geography
Iran
Period
14th century CE
Materials and technique
Stonepaste, painted in lustre, blue, brown and turquoise on an opaque white glaze
Dimensions
17.5 x 38.1 cm
Accession number
AKM00796
Description
In this panel, the central inscription stands in moulded relief with elegant thuluth writing, decorated in blue cobalt over a turquoise field of vine rolls, superimposed on small relief white canes over a golden background. The central inscription is from Surat al-Tur (The Mountain). The top and bottom inscriptions, in naskhi, appear on a raised section at the top and bottom part of the main decorative band. Kashan is considered the most important centre of tile and ceramic production, but some of the glazed tiles might have been produced in other parts of Iran. This panel is probably part of a frieze decorating the walls and tombs of a Shia mausoleum. According to Sheila Blair, they were made to decorate the cenotaph of the Sufi master 'Abd al-Samad, in Natanz, Iran. Such lustre-glazed ceramic tiles were also used to decorate mihrabs, and cenotaphs.
© 2007 The Aga Khan Development Network. This is the only authorised Website of the Aga Khan Development Network.