Twelve-pointed star tile

This large tile is one of four that found their way to museums in the Western world early in this century; the other three are in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Kunsthistorische Institut in Vienna. They were originally set in the West Ivan (a vaulted room with an open end) of the madrasa al-Ghiyäthiyya at Khargird in northeastern Iran. The building was finished in 846/1442–43 for Ghiyäth al-Dïn Pïr Ahmad Khvafî, one of the viziers of the Timurid Shäh Rukh. The building was begun by the architect Qaväm al-Dïn Shïrâzï, who died in 1438, and it was then completed by Ghiyäth al-Dïn Shïrâzï. Different techniques of tile decoration were used at the madrasa al-Ghiyäthiyya. The cuerda seca technique used in the present tile can be considered a cheaper substitute to time-consuming mosaic tilework, although the latter type of decoration is also present in the madrasa. This tile was combined on the wall of the ivan with smaller pentagonal, hexagonal, bow-knotted, and other polygonal tiles to form a complex geometrical pattern; the twelve-pointed star tiles constituted the central elements of the composition. The decoration on this tile can generically be described as a complex six-petaled flower set on a cobalt blue background; the single elements of the flower are in white (sometimes highlighted in gold paint), turquoise, and brick red; the border of the twelve-pointed star is turquoise.

[Carboni and Masuya 1993]

Madrasaal-Ghiyäthiyya at Khargird, Iran (from about 1445); Philip M. Lydig, New York (until 1917; gifted to MMA)

Washington. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Timur and the Princely Vision. Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century," April 14, 1989–July 6, 1989, no. 23.

Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Timur and the Princely Vision. Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century," August 13, 1989–November 5, 1989, no. 23.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery. "Persian Tiles," May 4, 1993–January 2, 1994, no. 34.

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nature of Islamic Ornament Part III: Geometric Patterns," March 17–July 18, 1999, no catalogue.

Allemagne, Henry-Rene d'. "Trois Mois de Voyage en Perse." In Du Khorassan au Pays des Backhtiaris. Vol. I-IV. Paris: Hachette et cie, 1911. vol. II, p. 42, ill. (related).

Seherr-Thoss, Sonia P. "Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey." In Design and color in Islamic architecture. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968. See for probable position of this or similar tiles.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn. "Islamic Pottery: A Brief History." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, vol. 40, no. 4 (Spring 1983). no. 38, pp. 1, 34, ill. (color).

Lentz, Thomas W., and Glenn D. Lowry. "Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century." In Timur and the Princely Vision. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989. no. 23, pp. 88, 90, 333, ill. p. 90 (color).

Carboni, Stefano, and Tomoko Masuya. Persian Tiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 34, p. 39, ill. (b/w).