Lot 36. A calligraphic cuerda seca pottery tile, Safavid Iran, 17th century; 9 1/8in. x 9 1/8in. (23.2cm. x 23.1cm.). Estimate GBP 4,000 - GBP 6,000 (USD 5,200 - USD 7,800). Price realised GBP 4,375. Courtesy Sotheby's.

The upper register decorated in polychrome with a stylised flowerhead between leafy vine stemming from white ground cartouches with black arabesques, below this poetic inscriptions in black nasta'liq on white ground, minor chips to edges, otherwise intact.

Provenance: French private collection, before 1981.

Note: This tile is created in the cuerda seca (Spanish for ‘dry cord’) technique which was one of the most extensively used forms of tile decoration in Safavid Iran. This practice developed side by side with tile mosaic during the latter part of the fourteenth century in Central Asia. It was a quick method and became particularly popular during the reign of Shah 'Abbas I due to his impatience for the completion of his monuments (Porter, 1995, p.176). The designs here resemble a combination of patterns seen in contemporaneous illustrated manuscripts and textiles. The poetry on our tile indicates that it must have been part of a large figural fresco depicting a scene from Nizami's famous tragic romance of Khusraw va Shirin.

Sotheby's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets, 28 October 2020