A COPPER LUSTRE-PAINTED POTTERY STAR TILE FRAGMENT
Kashan, Iran, ca. 1260 - 1265

A COPPER LUSTRE-PAINTED POTTERY STAR TILE FRAGMENT
Kashan, Iran, ca. 1260 - 1265

Of rectangular shape with a cusped top, representing approximately a third of a full eight-pointed star tile, painted in copper lustre on an opaque white glaze, the interior decorated with long curled leaves interlocking with split palmette sprays and bulbous buds in white reserved against a dark brown lustre ground, the border with a lustre-painted free-flowing naskh inscription against a white ground, 22.2cm x 10.4cm.

The shape and decoration of this tile link it very closely to the star and cross-shaped tiles commissioned in Kashan for the Imamzadeh Yahya shrine at Veramin (just outside Tehran) after the Mongol invasion. Twenty-five of these tiles bear the date of 1262 AD, providing us with an approximate date for our lot. Over 150 Veramin tiles survive and many of them are now featured in major museum collections. Their distinguishing features are the uniform designs, with no blue or turquoise highlights; the absence of animal or figural motifs; and the predilection for stylised vegetation including arabesques, split palmettes and abstract scrollwork, usually in white reserved against a lustre ground. The inscriptions are always located on the outer border and are characterised by a small, free-flowing, slightly angular naskh script. For further reference and comparison, please see O. Watson, Ceramics of Iran, 2020, cat. 214, p. 413; Christie's London, 13 October 1998, lot 248, and 1 November 2005, lot 81; and the group at the British Museum, previously in the private collection of Frederick du Cane Godman (inv. no. G.451 and others).

(Quantity:1)

Dimensions: 22.2cm x 10.4cm