A Timurid moulded pottery mihrab tile

Central Asia, second half of the 14th Century

Footnotes

This is a beautifully crafted terracotta panel that takes the form of a mihrab arch, enclosing an inner trefoil palmette which stands on a short waisted foot. The surface is adorned with an intricate design of scrolling floral and leafy arabesques in various luminous glazes such as rich turquoise, white, lilac and aubergine. The terracotta has been delicately carved in high relief to give the pierced effect of a veil of lace, with the subtle glazes floating against the deeply recessed ground.

Carved and glazed terracotta is a highly attractive technique that dates back to before the Timurid conquest. One of the earliest examples is a fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, dated AH 722/1322 AD. This technique seems only to have been used in the fourteenth century and is distinct from other techniques employed by Timurid tile-makers, such as cut-tile mosaic and cuerda seca.

Similar mihrab-shaped arches can be seen at the Mausoleum of an Anonymous Woman in the Shah-e Zende necropolis complex in Samarkand, illustrated in Jean Soustiel and Yves Porter's book Tombs of Paradise: The Shah-e Zende in Samarkand and architectural ceramics of Central Asia, 2003 p, 87. Another example is found in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul, as illustrated in Hülya Bilgi's book Reunited after centuries: Works of art restored to Turkey by the Sadberk Hanim Museum, 2005, pp. 28-29, cat. no. 4.