Isfahan, the Safavid capital, and Na'in were the two main centers in which buildings were lavishly decorated with tilework. The old tile-making tradition of composing repetitive geometrical or vegetal patterns was kept alive on mosques and madrasas, but an important innovation on secular buildings was a composition of square tiles individually painted as single elements of an outdoor scene with characters set in a garden landscape. These were placed in royal garden pavilions from the time of Shah 'Abbas to that of Shah Sulayman (the last example being the Hasht Bihisht of 1669). The Museum owns three of these panels, all purchased in 1903 and reported to come from "a palace and pavilion built by Shah 'Abbas on the garden avenue of the Chahar Bagh at Isfahan." The panel here shows a woman and three men in the garden. Such scenes were among the most frequent and fashionable subjects chosen by miniature painters of the Safavid period.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Tile Panel
Date:first quarter 17th century
Geography:Attributed to Iran, probably Isfahan
Medium:Stonepaste; polychrome glazed within black wax resist outlines (cuerda seca technique)
Dimensions:Panel: H. 45 1/2 in. (115.6 cm) W. 54 5/8 in. (138.7 cm) D. 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm) Wt. 356 lbs. (161.5 kg) Each tile: H. 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm) W. 8 7/8 in. (22.5 cm) Top Mounts: H. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
W. 2 in. (5.1 cm) D. 1/2 in. (1.3 cm) Bottom mounts: H. 1 in. (2.5 cm) W. 1 in. (2.5 cm) D. 1/2 in. (1.3 cm)
Classification:Ceramics-Tiles
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1903
Object Number:03.9a
Tile Panel
Elegantly attired youths minister to the needs of a damsel who is reclining on a divan placed in the midst of a somewhat theatrical landscape. Similar outdoor entertainment scenes found on other tile panels dated to the later Safavid period are believed to have come from pavilions or other buildings in Isfahan. The meager remnants of Safavid mnumental painting with genre scenes of a fête champêtre are to be found on tiles and murals of the Chihil Sutun and 'Ali Qapu in Isfahan. Reports of European travelers to Iran in the seventeenth century mention murals with genre scenes in Isfahan. These authors, however, make no mention of figural scenes on tile revetments. Some of the accounts do comment on the taste for paintings with figures dressed in European clothing. The costumes worn by the figures on the right and left are Iranian adaptations of European clothing.
This panel was made up of twenty painted panels rather than of tiles made in the more costly technique. The scene was painted in seven colors: blue, turquoise, brown, green, aubergine, purple, and the dominant yellow. It was then enclosed by a border of a stylized floral-and-leaf scroll overlaid with cloud bands.
Carolyn Kane in [Berlin 1981]
From a palace pavilion built by Shah Abbas (1583–1627) on the garden avenue of the Chahar Bagh at Isfahan
[ Louis Chardon, New York, until 1903; sold to MMA]
Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 86.
Lisbon. Monastery of Jeronimos. "Os Descobrimentos Portugueses e a Europa do Renascimento," May 7, 1983–October 2, 1983, no. 69.
New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part IV: Figural Representation," September 16, 1999–January 30, 2000, no catalogue.
Musée du Louvre. "Le Chant du Monde : L'Art de l'Iran Safavide," October 1, 2007–January 7, 2008, no. 120.
Baltimore. Walters Art Museum. "Pearls on a String: Art in the Age of Great Islamic Empires," November 8, 2015 - January 31, 2016, p. 247.
Zurich. Museum Rietberg. "Gardens of the World," May 13, 2016–October 9, 2016, no. 29.
Hellal, Salima, ed. "Au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon." In Les Arts de L'Islam. Gent: Snoeck Publishers, p. 506, ill. fig. 121.
Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammadan Art. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. p. 210, ill. fig. 138 (b/w).
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 86, pp. 210–11, ill. (b/w).
Pinto, Maria Helena Mendes. Os Descobrimentos Portugueses e a Europa do Renascimento. no. 69, pp. 54, 131, ill. p. 54 (color).
Carboni, Stefano, and Tomoko Masuya. Persian Tiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. p. 40, ill.
Munsterberg, Hugo, and Marjorie Munsterberg. World Ceramics from Prehistoric to Modern Times. New York: Penguin Studio Books, 1998. pp. 102, 105, ill. fig. 99.
Melikian-Chirvani, Assadullah. "L'Art de l' Iran Safavide 1501–1736." In Le Chant du Monde. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2007. no. 120, p. 359, ill. (color).
Emami, Farshid. "All the City’s Courtesans: A Now-Lost Safavid Pavilion and Its Figural Tile Panels." Metropolitan Museum Journal vol. 54 (2019). pp. 62–87, ill. fig. 3.
Landau, Amy S. "Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts." In Pearls on a String. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2015. p. 247.
Lutz, Albert, ed. "Orte der Sehnsucht und Inspiration." In Gärten der Welt. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 2016. no. 29, pp. 67, 300, ill. p. 69 (color).
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