A CALLIGRAPHIC CUERDA SECA POTTERY TILE
Early Qajar Iran, late 18th - early 19th century

Of square shape, painted in cobalt blue, turquoise, ochre yellow, copper green, pink, and manganese black against a white ground, decorated with the first part of a lobed nasta'liq calligraphic cartouche in-filled with the incipit of line 10 of Karbala's tarkib-band by Muhtasham Kashani (d. 996 AH / 1588 AD), an elegiac poem popular in the Qajar era on the martyrdom of Imam Hossein, the calligraphy in white reserved against a cobalt blue ground, the corners enhanced with quarters of pink rosette blossoms against a yellow ground, mounted and set in a black wooden frame, 31.8cm x 32cm including the frame.