A Kashan star-shaped lustre pottery tile with phoenix, Persia, 13th century. Photo: Sotheby's.

of octagonal form, featuring a phoenix moulded in relief and painted with underglaze cobalt blue and turquoise against an overglaze lustre ground; 21cm. diam. Estimation 10,000 — 15,000 GBP

PROPERTY FROM THE GUERRAND-HERMÈS COLLECTION

Phoenix and dragon motifs were popular during the Ilkhanid period and adorned important monuments such as Takht-i Sulaiman, the summer palace of the Mongol Ilkhan, Abaka, constructed in the 1270s. Such motifs represented new iconographic references to power through their association with luxury textiles and ceramics from China from which they derived.

A star tile with a similar design, featuring a phoenix in full flight, is in the University of Michigan Museum of Art (inv no. 1960/1.132).

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World. London | 09 oct. 2013 - http://www.sothebys.com