A turquoise-glazed pottery house model, Persia, 12th-13th century. Photo: Sotheby's

of rectangular form, with moulded decoration comprising an animal pen to the top containing various quadrupeds with an aperture in the centre, the sides also with open roundels and one main rectangular opening, covered with a bright turquoise glaze: 20.5 by 15.1cm. Estimation 8,000 — 12,000 GBP

This interesting piece belongs to a surviving group of glazed ceramic house models, believed to date from the late/post-Seljuq period in Persia (circa 1150-1250) and studied extensively by Dr Margaret Graves and Dr Melanie Gibson. Organised around a central courtyard, the quadruped figurines on the present example were probably modelled as bulls and lions.

For additional scholarship on these models, please refer to: Margaret S. Graves, "Ceramic House Models from Medieval Persia: Domestic Architecture and Concealed Activities", in IRAN: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, vol. 46 (2008), pp.227-251. 

We are grateful to Dr Melanie Gibson for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot. 

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