Tile from an Inscriptional Frieze

dated 734 AH/1334 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 455
Inscribed: "and the earth, in six d[ays]" from Qur'an 7:54

This tile and tile 40.181.5 once graced the Imamzada 'Ali ibn Ja'far tomb complex in the city of Qum. The associated mihrab, now in the National Museum of Iran, bears the date of Ramadan 734 / May 1334, and the signature of Yusuf ibn 'Ali Muhammad ibn Abi Tahir (active 1305–34). Yusuf was the fourth and last generation of the Abu Tahir family of potters from Kashan, and this tile represents one of the final examples of the family's long-lived tile-making tradition.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tile from an Inscriptional Frieze
  • Date: dated 734 AH/1334 CE
  • Geography: Made in Iran, Kashan
  • Medium: Stonepaste; modeled, inglaze painted in blue, luster-painted on opaque white glaze
  • Dimensions: H. 17 5/8 in. (44.8 cm)
    W. 15 1/2 in. (39.4 cm)
    D. 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Tiles
  • Credit Line: H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Gift of Horace Havemeyer, 1940
  • Object Number: 40.181.6
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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