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Lot 61

A 'Dome of the Rock' pottery tile
Jerusalem, circa 1550

23 May 2023, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,560 inc. premium

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A 'Dome of the Rock' pottery tile
Jerusalem, circa 1550

decorated underglaze in cobalt-blue and black outline on a white ground with a split-palmette surrounded by partial flowerheads and tendrils
19.3 x 19.5 cm.

Footnotes

This tile belongs to a group of tiles of identical design that were used in the refurbishment of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, under the patronage of the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. For this project, a team of craftsmen led by 'Abdallah Tabrizi produced tiles in tile mosaic, underglaze and cuerda seca techniques on site, some of which were inscribed with the dates AH 952/ AD 1545 and AH 959/ AD 1551-2. It is thought that these potters moved from Jerusalem to Damascus after the completion of the Dome of the Rock and they are credited with the establishment of the Damascus tile industry. For a discussion of tiles of this type, see Venetia Porter, Islamic Tiles, London, 1995, pp. 103-4, and fig. 92; and for the Dome of the Rock, Said Nuseibeh and Oleg Grabar, The Dome of the Rock, 1996 and E.T. Richmond, The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, 1924.

For a similar example sold in these rooms, see Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 29 March 2022, lot 93.

Additional information