A square lusterware tile that is colored brown and has white details. It’s painted details and 3D surface depicts a floral pattern, two birds, and a blue arch with more flowers underneath.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A square lusterware tile that is shown flat on a white background. It is colored brown with white and blue details. It’s painted details and 3D surface depicts a large, floral pattern at the top, two outward-looking white and blue birds on the middle left and right edges, and a large blue arch in the center. The arch is made of two parallel lines of aqua with darker blue Arabic writing within the lines. Underneath the arch is a tall flower surrounded by a symmetrical floral motif.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1958.47
Title
Square tile from an inscriptional frieze with birds and flowers in relief
Classification
Architectural Elements
Work Type
architectural element
Date
1270s
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Kashan
Period
Ilkhanid period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216395

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2550, Art from Islamic Lands, The Middle East and North Africa
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Fritware; molded and painted in cobalt-blue and turquoise on a white ground under a transparent glaze and lustre painted.
Technique
Lusterware
Dimensions
H: 26 x W: 26.5 x Depth: 2 cm (10 1/4 x 10 7/16 x 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Inscription (in Persian): "Dô rukhsâra-i tâbân ba-kirdâr-i mâh." Translation: "Two luminous cheeks like the moon."

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet
Accession Year
1958
Object Number
1958.47
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
Label text from exhibition “Re-View,” an overview of objects drawn from the collections of Harvard Art Museums, 26 April 2008 – 1 July 2013; label text written by Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art:

Frieze Tile with Inscription, Birds, and Flowers
Iran, probably Takht-i Sulayman, lIkhanid dynasty, c. 1270s
Fritware with molded relief and luster painting over glaze
Inscribed (Persian) Two luminous cheeks like the moon.
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet, 1958.47

Within a few centuries of its invention in ninth-century Iraq, the complicated technique of creating lustered ceramics passed to Egypt, and then to Iran. A closely guarded trade secret, luster painting presumably migrated with families of potters, buffeted by political upheavals. The city of Kashan was the center of the luster industry in Iran during the Saljuq-Atabeg period. Despite the turbulence of the Mongol conquests, Kashan potters continued to produce brilliant luster designs into the 1300s.

Publication History

  • Mary McWilliams, "Islamic Ceramic Traditions", The Studio Potter, ed. Gerry Williams (New Hampshire, December 2002), vol. 31, no.1, pp46, fig. 3

Exhibition History

  • Birds, Beasts and Calligraphies, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/11/1981 - 09/29/1981
  • Islamic Art: Drawings, Calligraphies and Objects, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/29/1983 - 09/25/1983
  • Diverse are their Hues: Animals in Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/18/1984 - 02/09/1985
  • The Heavenly Court: Persian Poetry and Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/09/1985 - 03/31/1985
  • Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
  • Earthly Paradise: Gardens in Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/08/1993 - 08/22/1993
  • Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008
  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/06/2019 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu