Enrica Medugno
Sale Coordinator
Lot 35
A Timurid moulded pottery tile Central Asia, late 14th Century
14 November 2023, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£30,000 - £50,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
A Timurid moulded pottery tile
Central Asia, late 14th Century
Central Asia, late 14th Century
of rectangular form, decorated in cobalt blue and turquoise glaze on a white ground with a central trefoil palmette on a short waisted foot, containing and surrounded by carved floral and foliate interlace and split palmettes, an angular top knot containing a circular flower bud to the top and a loop containing a flowerhead to the bottom of the central trefoil palmette, mounted
52.8 x 33.6 cm.
52.8 x 33.6 cm.
Footnotes
Among the extant examples of the characteristic Timurid technique of carved and glazed terracotta, this panel is unusual because of its many levels of relief. The delicate high-relief carving gives a deeply pierced impression to the tile, reminiscent of a veil of lace. The central trefoil palmette is recessed from its surrounding white frame and background; on the other hand the flowers and lotus palmettes throughout the cobalt blue outer section protrude in high relief above the entire surface.
The highly attractive technique of carved and glazed terracotta predates the Timurid conquest of Samarkand in 1366 AD, one of the earliest examples being a fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London dated AH 722/ AD 1322. Unlike other techniques in the wide range employed by the Timurid tile-makers, such as cut-tile mosaic and cuerda seca, carved and glazed terracotta seems only to have been used in the 14th Century.
A very similar rectangular tile can be seen in the Shah-e Zende necropolis in Samarkand (Jean Soustiel and Yves Porter, Tombs of Paradise: The Shah-e Zende in Samarkand and architectural ceramics of Central Asia, Saint-Remy-en-l'Eau: Éditions Monelle Hayot, 2003, p. 86).