tile
Tile
ca. 1650 (made)
ca. 1650 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This Mughal tile is one of a group acquired from Mr. Frederick H. Andrews in 1923. He had been living in Srinagar and wrote to the museum in 1922 offering to sell his collection before he left that year to return to the UK. All were acquired in Kashmir, and were stated to have come from the 'tomb of Madani' in Srinagar. The tomb is actually that of Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Madani whose mosque, dated 1444, is next to it. The tiles themselves are later, produced in the reign of the emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), for a ceremonial gateway to the tomb and mosque probably constructed in about 1640. The gateway was originally richly embellished with polychrome tiles. Details of what little remained in the early 20th century were recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India for 1908-1909. Their photographs show tiles set into the walls that are closely similar to the panel of eight tiles in the V&A to which this example belongs.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | tile (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Earthenware with a white slip coating and cuerda seca decoration |
| Brief description | Tile, kashmir or lahore, 17th century. |
| Physical description | A tile from a larger composition with a yellow ground decorated with a series of baluster-shaped vases with sprays of varied flowers outlined in black, in a design reminiscent of Dutch still-life flower engraving of the time. This tile shows part of an orange vase with grey arabesque decoration washed in blue with touches of white on the right hand side. On the left there is a spray of flowers with black and white roses with blue leaves, on top of which there is a row of orange tulips and above this some blue and grey flowers with more touches of white topped by some smaller orange flowers. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Object history | This tile is one of a group acquired from Mr. Frederick H. Andrews in 1923. He had been living in Srinagar and wrote to the museum in 1922 offering to sell his collection before he left that year to return to the UK. All were acquired in Kashmir, and were stated to have come from the 'tomb of Madani' in Srinagar. The tomb is actually that of Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Madani whose mosque, dated 1444, is next to it. The tiles themselves are later, produced in the reign of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), for a ceremonial gateway to the tomb and mosque. The gateway was originally richly embellished with polychrome tiles. Details of what little remained in the early 20th century were recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India for 1908-1909. Their photographs show tiles set into the walls that are closely similar to the panel of eight tiles in the V&A to which this example belongs. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This Mughal tile is one of a group acquired from Mr. Frederick H. Andrews in 1923. He had been living in Srinagar and wrote to the museum in 1922 offering to sell his collection before he left that year to return to the UK. All were acquired in Kashmir, and were stated to have come from the 'tomb of Madani' in Srinagar. The tomb is actually that of Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Madani whose mosque, dated 1444, is next to it. The tiles themselves are later, produced in the reign of the emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), for a ceremonial gateway to the tomb and mosque probably constructed in about 1640. The gateway was originally richly embellished with polychrome tiles. Details of what little remained in the early 20th century were recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India for 1908-1909. Their photographs show tiles set into the walls that are closely similar to the panel of eight tiles in the V&A to which this example belongs. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Susan Stronge, ‘Tile Revetments in the Reign of Shah Jahan’, in Ebba Koch in collaboration with Ali Anooshahr, eds, The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan. Art, Architecture, Politics, Law and Literature, Marg Publications, Mumbai 2019, pp 220-245, illustrated plate 17 p. 234. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.245-1923 |
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| Record created | January 22, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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