Tile in the Form of the Letter ‘Waw’12th century

Not on view

Title: Tile in the Form of the Letter ‘Waw’
Culture: Islamic
Place Made: Iran
Date Made: 12th century
Medium: Fritware, molded and glazed
Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 4 3/4 x 1 7/8 in. (19.37 x 12.07 x 4.82 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Joan Palevsky Bequest
Accession Number: M.2006.138.1
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Inscriptions formed from three-dimensional letter-shaped tiles such as this one adorned buildings in Iran and Central Asia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This striking turquoise-glazed tile is the letter waw, which is both a consonant (W) and vowel (ū) in Arabic (the former pronounced as V in Persian). It is impossible to reconstruct the original text from this single tile, but such inscriptions typically included blessings and information about the building’s commissioner.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

Not on view

Title: Tile in the Form of the Letter ‘Waw’
Culture: Islamic
Place Made: Iran
Date Made: 12th century
Medium: Fritware, molded and glazed
Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 4 3/4 x 1 7/8 in. (19.37 x 12.07 x 4.82 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Joan Palevsky Bequest
Accession Number: M.2006.138.1
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Inscriptions formed from three-dimensional letter-shaped tiles such as this one adorned buildings in Iran and Central Asia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This striking turquoise-glazed tile is the letter waw, which is both a consonant (W) and vowel (ū) in Arabic (the former pronounced as V in Persian). It is impossible to reconstruct the original text from this single tile, but such inscriptions typically included blessings and information about the building’s commissioner.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.