Tileearly 14th century

Not on view

Title: Tile
Place Made: Iran, Kashan
Date Made: early 14th century
Medium: Fritware, overglaze luster-painted with cobalt blue
Dimensions: 15 x 14 in. (38.10 x 35.56 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.143
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Following the tumultuous period of Mongol invasions in the early thirteenth century, the eastern Islamic world, newly united with Central and Eastern Asia, experienced a time of peace and economic and artistic flourishing known as the Pax Mongolica. This luster-painted tile epitomizes the important mingling of cultures that occurred during the period; the top is decorated with a band of soaring phoenixes derived from Chinese designs while the bottom portion contains a fragment of a Persian poetic inscription. This amalgamation of East Asian and Near Eastern arts spread throughout the Islamic world and continued to influence artistic production well after the end of the Pax Mongolica.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
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.

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