Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Tile

ca. 1420-1450 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Mamluk tilereflects the growing impact of two colour Chinese ceramics of the Yuan and Ming dynasties imported into the Middle East. It is painted in black on a white ground and then glazed; the glaze has been tinted with a turquoise pigment..

Although not typical, similar tiles survive in situ covering the walls in the mosque and tomb of the Mamluk digiatary Ghars al-Din Khalil al-Tawrizi (d. 1430) in Damascus, begun in 1423. They are sometimes interspersed with plain turquoise tiles. This examples shows a strong Islamic taste in the design.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Fritware, underglaze painted in black, glazed
Brief description
Tile, fritware, hexgonal, painted in black with a bird, turquoise-tinted glaze, Syria (Damascus), ca.1420-1450
Physical description
Tile, fritware, hexagonal, painted in black with a strutting heron-like bird or stork surrounded by four swaying tendril-like leaves, covered with a pale green-turquoise-tinted glaze.
Dimensions
  • Not measured length: 17.7cm
Style
Subject depicted
Summary
This Mamluk tilereflects the growing impact of two colour Chinese ceramics of the Yuan and Ming dynasties imported into the Middle East. It is painted in black on a white ground and then glazed; the glaze has been tinted with a turquoise pigment..

Although not typical, similar tiles survive in situ covering the walls in the mosque and tomb of the Mamluk digiatary Ghars al-Din Khalil al-Tawrizi (d. 1430) in Damascus, begun in 1423. They are sometimes interspersed with plain turquoise tiles. This examples shows a strong Islamic taste in the design.
Bibliographic reference
Lane, Arthur. A Guide to the Collection of Tiles. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1939, 2nd edition 1960. pl. 12b Carswell, John. Six Tiles. In: Ettinghausen, R. (ed.): Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1972. pp.99-124
Collection
Accession number
468-1897

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Record createdDecember 17, 2008
Record URL
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