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Source Description
The tile of white ground and polychrome decoration is of composite or stone paste body with overglaze colors applied by cuerda seca (dry cord) technique.This seventeenth-century tile was once part of a larger figural composition that decorated a building in early modern Iran, most likely in the Persian capital at Isfahan. The palette and cuerda seca technique of the tile exemplify ceramic manufacture of Safavid Persia (1501–1722), where the court and wealthy merchants commissioned palaces sheathed in such polychrome narrative tiles. A popular theme for architectural compositions was men and women feasting outdoors; it is likely that the present tile was part of such a compostion, which finds many parallels in seventeenth-century arts of the book. The Safavid period is appreciated as an epoch of great artistic and literary output, when images of youthful figures, like the one seen on this tile, would conjure poetic verses celebrating wine, poetry, and the beloved.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
92264
label
Tile with Image of a Man
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
8
Source metadata
id
92264
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tile with Image of a Man
description
The tile of white ground and polychrome decoration is of composite or stone paste body with overglaze colors applied by cuerda seca (dry cord) technique.This seventeenth-century tile was once part of a larger figural composition that decorated a building in early modern Iran, most likely in the Persian capital at Isfahan. The palette and cuerda seca technique of the tile exemplify ceramic manufacture of Safavid Persia (1501–1722), where the court and wealthy merchants commissioned palaces sheathed in such polychrome narrative tiles. A popular theme for architectural compositions was men and women feasting outdoors; it is likely that the present tile was part of such a compostion, which finds many parallels in seventeenth-century arts of the book. The Safavid period is appreciated as an epoch of great artistic and literary output, when images of youthful figures, like the one seen on this tile, would conjure poetic verses celebrating wine, poetry, and the beloved.
provenance
Collection of Dr. George Krotkoff; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 2014.
date
ca. 1650 (Safavid)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
tiles
imageCount
8
pageCount
8
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
24.4
height
23
depth
3.3
dimensionsRaw
H: 9 5/8 × W: 9 1/16 × D: 1 5/16 in. (24.4 × 23 × 3.3 cm)
Source extras
cul
Islamic
dynasty
Safavid
med
fritware ceramic with overglaze colors
creator_ids
6747
collection_ids
ISL
exhibition_ids
none
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