Tile
ca. 1640-50 (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 four tiles in the V&A to which this example belongs.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Earthenware with a white slip ground decorated in cuerda seca |
| Brief description | Architecture, ceramic, glazed, Mughal, c.1650 |
| Physical description | This tile is part of a former tile panel with a floral design stretching across it. It has a green ground with part of a spray of white blossom arching over an orange flower with yellow sepals and centre. The right hand edge of the tile has a narrow edge of an orange motif outlined in white. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Object history | Part of a collection of tiles acquired from Mr Frederick H. Andrews in 1923. He had been living in Srinagar, where he was Director of the Technical Institute of Kashmir, and wrote to the museum in 1922 offering to sell his collection before he left that year to return to the U.K. The tile was said to have come from the tomb of Madani, near But Kadal in Srinagar, Kashmir. |
| Subject 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 four tiles in the V&A to which this example belongs. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.263-1923 |
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| Record created | June 25, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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