The curving earthenware tile with two large kufic letters with foliate terminals in white against a manganese ground with curving turquoise leafy sprays, thick glaze occasionally running, repaired old break, chips to edges, the reverse with metallic mount.

Provenance: Private New York Collection, sold in these Rooms, 15 October 2002, lot 75.

Note: This tile is one of a small group which appear to have come from the same frieze. These include one in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Pal, 1973), one in The Art Institute of Chicago (inv. no. 1913-328), another in the Victoria and Albert Museum (1109/1109A-1898) and one in Berlin (Islamisches Museum I.1309/1310). These appear to show that there was originally a double row of inscriptions with kufic above and naskh below, the lower hastae passing up to the top level amongst the upper inscription. Related tiles of similar size but with arabesque panels are also known, including one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; spolia from these reset on one of the tiled cenotaphs of the Alaeddin Türbe in Konya prove the link with this city. 

The late Dr. Michael Meinecke, in a private letter with regard to this group of large curved tiles with very thick glaze and cuerda seca technique, expressed the opinion that they are most likely to be from the Mevlana Türbe in Konya. This building, the resting place of Jalal-al-Din Rumi and the centre of the mevlana dervish order named after him, had its central dome enlarged to its present cusped form by the Karamanid 'Ala al-Din 'Ali Beg. Now covered in turquoise tiles, a band of inscription runs around the cusped walls just below the conical roof. It appears probable that the detailed cuerda seca tile decoration extended further down the sides, or at least in lower bands when it was first executed, in areas that are now covered by plain turquoise tiles.

Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, London, 2 May 2019