tile
Tile
1640-50 (made)
1640-50 (made)
Place of origin |
This Mughal glazed earthenware tile is one of a group acquired in 1923 from Mr Frederick H. Andrews. He had been living in Srinagar as 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 UK. The tiles are stated to have come from the tomb of Madani near But Kadal in Srinagar, Kashmir. The building dates from the mid-fifteenth century, but a new gateway to the tomb and adjacent mosque was constructed by order of Shah Jahan, probably in about 1640. The gateway was already in ruined condition in 1907 when it was examined by the Archaeological Survey of India, with few tiles still in situ. 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 cuerda seca decoration |
Brief description | Architecture, glazed ceramic, probably Kashmir, ca. 1640-50 |
Physical description | Square glazed earthenware tile from a larger decorative composition with a yellow ground and a half-drop design of baluster-shaped vases in orange with grey arabesque decoration from which spring bunches of various types of flowers in manganese purple, blues, orange with white highlights. The design may loosely derive from a contemporary Dutch flower engraving. |
Dimensions |
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Styles | |
Credit line | Purchased from Mr. Frederick H. Andrews Esq., 12 Queensway, Raishia, Delhi, India |
Object history | This tile is one of a group of 63 acquired in 1923 from Mr Frederick H. Andrews. He had been living in Srinagar as 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 UK. The tiles are said to have come from the tomb of Madani near But Kadal in Srinagar, Kashmir. The building dates from the mid-fifteenth century, but it was refurbished by a Mughal nobleman during the reign of Shah Jahan. The tiles were possibly made in Lahore. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This Mughal glazed earthenware tile is one of a group acquired in 1923 from Mr Frederick H. Andrews. He had been living in Srinagar as 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 UK. The tiles are stated to have come from the tomb of Madani near But Kadal in Srinagar, Kashmir. The building dates from the mid-fifteenth century, but a new gateway to the tomb and adjacent mosque was constructed by order of Shah Jahan, probably in about 1640. The gateway was already in ruined condition in 1907 when it was examined by the Archaeological Survey of India, with few tiles still in situ. 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. See Plate 17, p. 234. |
Collection | |
Accession number | CIRC.1290-1923 |
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Record created | June 25, 2009 |
Record URL |
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