of rectangular form, with an opacified tin glaze enhanced with cobalt blue and copper turquoise over-decorated in lustre, a central panel of kufic inscription with elongated and split palmette shafts, on a lustre ground with foliate scroll in turquoise and white, narrow cursive bands above and below
24.5 x 38.5cm

Footnotes

Provenance:
Collection Hakky-Bey, Hotel Druout, 5-10 March 1906, Lot 372 (illustrated).

Inscription:
In kufic: bismillah al-rahman al-r...

In cursive: in the upper band Qur'an, sura yasin (XXXVI), parts of verses 1-4
in the lower band Qur'an, sura yasin, (XXXVI), part of verses 36-70.

There are several comparable examples all dating to the early 13th century. A tomb at Qumm datable to AH 602/AD 1206, painted in cobalt blue and lustre, has an inner kufic frieze enclosed by cursive border friezes, an ornamentation noted by Watson for its rarity (O. Watson, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pp. 124-5). A mihrab from the shrine at Mashhad dated AH 612/AD 1215 with its elaborate moulded kufic inscription against a finely detailed background can also be compared to the present tile (O. Watson, op. cit, 1985, p. 126).

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A Kashan lustre Tile with moulded kufic inscription Persia, early 13th Century

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Matthew Thomas