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Tile From an Inscriptional Frieze

dated 707 AH/1308 CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 455
This tile is one in a series which probably once formed a glittering inscriptional frieze encircling the walls of a 14th-century tomb pavilion located in Natanz, Iran. The cobalt-blue inscription is set against a field of scrolling vines, wherein tiny birds perch amongst leafy foliage, some alighting upon the letters themselves. The frieze likely sat close to eye level, permitting the intricacies of the tile's drawing to be admired, while crowning a dado of equally opulent star- and cross-shaped tiles.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tile From an Inscriptional Frieze
  • Date: dated 707 AH/1308 CE
  • Geography: From Iran, Natanz
  • Medium: Stonepaste; underglaze painted in blue, luster-painted on opaque white ground, modeled
  • Dimensions: H. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
    W. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Tiles
  • Credit Line: Gift of Emile Rey, 1912
  • Object Number: 12.44
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

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Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes, Stonepaste; openwork, underglaze-painted, glazed in transparent turquoise
Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes
dated 612 AH/1215–16 CE
Luster Bowl with Winged Horse, Stonepaste; luster-painted on opaque monochrome glaze
Luster Bowl with Winged Horse
late 12th century
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience, Stonepaste; glazed (opaque monochrome), in-glaze- and overglaze-painted, gilded
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience
late 12th–early 13th century
Mihrab (Prayer Niche), Mosaic of polychrome-glazed cut tiles on stonepaste body; set into mortar
Mihrab (Prayer Niche)
dated 755 AH/1354–55 CE
Tile with Image of Phoenix, Stonepaste; modeled, underglaze painted in blue and turquoise, luster-painted on opaque white ground
Tile with Image of Phoenix
late 13th century

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