Star Tile with Cyprus Tree, Parrots, Fishpond, and Shahnama Inscription

1289

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Kashan kilns

Star Tile with Cyprus Tree, Parrots, Fishpond, and Shahnama Inscription

Kashan kilns

Star Tile with Cyprus Tree, Parrots, Fishpond, and Shahnama Inscription

1289

Physical Qualities Fritware with luster, turquoise, and blue decoration on white glaze, 8 in. Diam. (20.3 cm.)

Credit Line Gift of Richard and Elizabeth S. Ettinghausen in Memory of Adelyn D. Breeskin

Object Number 2013.221

This tile relates to a group of tiles throught to have decorated the tomb of Imamzada Ja'far (died 1146), a follower of Shia Islam. A dense inscription from Shahnama (The Book of Kings), an epic poem celebrating Iran's 500 kings, fills the border. A cyprus tree, flanked by two parrots, grows above a fishpond. Shia Islamic tradition is more lenient in allowing depictions of animate beings compared to Sunni tradition. Nevertheless, a later follower, believing the creation of living forms belongs only to God, chipped out the eyes of the offending birds to remove any suggestion of animation.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2013 (on extended loan from 1957); Elizabeth Ettinghausen, Princeton, NJ; Richard S. Ettinghausen

"Persian Exhibition," New York, 1940, ER/3.
Frances Klapthor, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Art Across Asia: West Asian Connections," July 19, 2017-October 19, 2019
Collection installation, "Asia. The Art & Business of Writing", Levy Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, October 5, 2023-

Inscribed: Dated H. 688