Eight-pointed Star Tile

Location: Kashan, Iran

Materials: stonepaste body, with lustre over an opaque glaze stained cobalt blue and turquoise

Dimensions: 21cm (diameter)

Accession Number: POT 509

Other Notes:

The decoration consists of an inhabited scroll in blue, which rises from the lowest point of the tile. The volutes terminate in three dragons’ heads, with a fourth dragon’s head at the centre of the composition, and contain two jackals and two hares. The treatment of the animals is somewhat similar to tiles dated 664–5 AH (1266–7 AD) from the Imamzadeh Ja‘far at Damghan, Iran.

Bibliography:

J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.236, p.195.