Tehran Tilework
Tile
1800-1850 (made)
1800-1850 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Tile panel incomplete (six tiles in two parts), fritware mixed with coarse buff- coloured clay, comprising four square tiles and two rectangular tiles, covered with tin-opacified white slip and polychrome painted. The elaborate design imitates Qajar enamelwork on gold. The design is complex and carefully ordered consisting of a series of pictorial and floral themes vertically aligned from top to bottom:-
This rectangular tile depicts a partial winged semi-nude female figure holding a bowl of flowers, above a section of an escalloped oblong cartouche with a turquoise ground with spiraling tendrils in black. The golden yellow ground is strewn with stylized flowers. Along the right side is a narrow border pattern with a continuous repeat of medallions of European buildings alternating with flowerheads, against a deep blue ground.
Mounted on a wood frame with three other tiles in an ebonized wood and gold lined frame.
This rectangular tile depicts a partial winged semi-nude female figure holding a bowl of flowers, above a section of an escalloped oblong cartouche with a turquoise ground with spiraling tendrils in black. The golden yellow ground is strewn with stylized flowers. Along the right side is a narrow border pattern with a continuous repeat of medallions of European buildings alternating with flowerheads, against a deep blue ground.
Mounted on a wood frame with three other tiles in an ebonized wood and gold lined frame.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Tehran Tilework |
Materials and techniques | Fritware mixed with coarse buff-coloured clay, tin-opacified white slip and polychrome painted. |
Brief description | Middle East, Ceramic, Tile; Tile, glazed earthenware, with vertical design of an angel holding roses, against yellow background, and side border vignettes of urban landscapes and flowers, mounted in a set of three, but part of a larger panel composition, Tehran or Shiraz, Iran, 1800-1850 |
Physical description | Tile panel incomplete (six tiles in two parts), fritware mixed with coarse buff- coloured clay, comprising four square tiles and two rectangular tiles, covered with tin-opacified white slip and polychrome painted. The elaborate design imitates Qajar enamelwork on gold. The design is complex and carefully ordered consisting of a series of pictorial and floral themes vertically aligned from top to bottom:- This rectangular tile depicts a partial winged semi-nude female figure holding a bowl of flowers, above a section of an escalloped oblong cartouche with a turquoise ground with spiraling tendrils in black. The golden yellow ground is strewn with stylized flowers. Along the right side is a narrow border pattern with a continuous repeat of medallions of European buildings alternating with flowerheads, against a deep blue ground. Mounted on a wood frame with three other tiles in an ebonized wood and gold lined frame. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Object history | This colourful tile was bought for the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A) in Tehran in 1875, as part of a set of nine. The set was sold by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas, a French diplomat who had been stationed in Iran since 1840, and had built up an extensive survey collection of Iranian tiles. He sold a large consignment to the Museum's agent, Robert Murdoch Smith, ranging from 14th-century lustreware to these early 19th-century tiles, which he dated to the reign of Fath `Ali Shah (d.1834). |
Collection | |
Accession number | 1495:3-1876 |
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Record created | July 19, 2013 |
Record URL |
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