AN EARLY TIMURID CARVED POTTERY CALLIGRAPHIC BORDER TILE
CENTRAL ASIA, 14TH CENTURY
Auction: 11 December 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
of arched rectangular form, carved in deep relief with ornamental kufic on a ground of scrolling vegetal designs glazed in white and turquoise, mounted on stand
Dimensions
19cm x 26cm
Provenance
Formerly the collection of Erik Reiff, (1923-2006), Denmark, thence by descent.
Erik Reiff, a ceramicist and painter, was born in Denmark in 1923. He began his career as a painter and draughtsman reflecting expressionist and abstract styles, before moving on to becoming a ceramicist. After doing his training and apprenticeship in Norway and France, he worked for Bing & Grondhal (1949-1957), Knabstrub Keramik (1975-1977) and The Royal Copenhagen factory (1977-1984). He ran his own workshop alongside his employments from 1957 to 1984.
His work was highly inspired by Chinese and Persian pottery and collected pieces that caught his attention, of which this Timurid pottery border tile was one of them.
Footnote
The inscriptions read: ‘The Sultan’
The tile shares similar stylistic features to the tiles on the ruins of the entrance portal of the Aq Saray (Shahr-i Sabz) dated to circa 1379-96 (see T. Lentz and G. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the 15th Century, Smithsonian Institute, 1989, pp. 42-43).
For another comparable fragment, see Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 22 April 2015, lot 181.