A LARGE SAFAVID POTTERY TILE MOSAIC PANEL
Iran, 17th century

Of irregular shape, made of individually-cut tile tesserae painted in red, yellow, black, turquoise, green, cobalt blue, and white, assembled in a figural pictorial composition featuring two roosters amidst spiraling vegetal and floral scrolls with rosettes, stylised lotus flowers and split palmettes, all set against a cobalt blue ground, mounted on a later metal stand, the mosaic 58.2cm x 50cm.

Provenance: Christie's London, 27 April 2004, lot 278.

Mosaic pottery panels such as this were created by laying cut pieces of monochrome-painted tiles on top of a drawn pattern and then pouring plaster in between the pieces to fix them together, also known as Haft Rang (seven colours) technique. To create the cut pieces, potters would first have to make and individually fire tiles for each colour they wished to use in the final mosaic. This time-consuming and delicate process was eventually succeeded by a more inexpensive technique, which allowed potters to paint several different colours at once onto square tiles keeping them separated with manganese-drenched cords (cuerda seca technique). Safavid potters would then fix these together to create large pictorial compositions, in a more extensive and simpler form than mosaic work.

Comparable tile mosaic panels can be seen in the collection of the Louvre, Paris (inv.no.MAO 1189; please see Istanbul, Isfahan, Delhi: Three Capitals of Islamic Art, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul 2008, no.118, p. 247), and on the walls of the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, dating to 1627. They usually present the traditional iconography of the peacock, another beloved bird in the arts of Islam since a very early time, together with the rooster present in our lot. For similar mosaic panels sold in the UK auction market, please see Christie's London, 5 October 2010, lot 212 and Bonhams London, 23 October 2018, lot 44.