Experts think this panel with geometric decoration came from an upper wall of the tomb of Buyanquli Khan. He was a Muslim descendant of the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and, for a time, the puppet ruler of parts of Central Asia. He was assassinated by a local warlord in 1358 when he tried to assert his own authority.

His tomb was part of a magnificent domed mausoleum built in a cemetery on the outskirts of Bukhara in Uzbekistan. The entire building was covered in tiles, inside and out. These tiles were deeply carved with inscriptions and other ornament and covered with coloured glazes before the final firing. This impressive technique was used in Central Asia only for a brief period, from around 1350 to the early 15th century.