Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 10.9.1.
A larger image of this Frieze Tile with Two Hunters, second half 13th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 10.9.1
Frieze Tile with Two Hunters
Object Name: Frieze tile
Date: second half 13th century
Geography: Attributed to Iran, Kashan
Medium: Stonepaste; molded, inglaze painted in blue and turquoise, luster-painted on opaque white glaze
Dimensions: H. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm)
W. 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm)
D. 1 1/8 in. (2.9 cm)
Classification: Ceramics-Tiles
Credit Line: Gift of George Blumenthal, 1910
Accession Number: 10.9.1
This frieze tile is molded in low relief and painted in luster over an opaque white ground with accents of turquoise and cobalt blue. The background presents a lush landscape of vegetal motifs and birds in flight, while in the foreground two horsemen stab a deer with their swords. The figures wear luxurious clothes, and the artist has taken care to depict different textile patterns on each. Luster tiles of similar quality, color scheme, and motifs decorated the palace at Takht-i Sulaiman, an important Ilkhanid imperial residence.
Provenance: George Blumenthal, New York (until 1910; gifted to MMA)
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 10.9.1
Fig. 50 (cat. no. 98). Frieze tile with two hunters, Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), ca. 1 270-75. Fritware, overglaze luster-painted. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of George Blumenthal, 1910 (10.9.1)
98 fig. 50
Frieze Tile with Two Hunters
Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), ca. 1270-75
Fritware, overglaze luster-painted
27.3 x 33.7 cm (10¾ x 13¼ in.)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of George Blumenthal, 1910 (10.9.1)
These two frieze tiles each have a figural subject in the main register, set against very similar densely vegetal backgrounds with birds in flight; in each case the narrow, almost identical border below is divided into small compartments that contain a highly stylized design. Both tiles have molded details accentuated in cobalt blue and turquoise pigment; owing to its volatile nature, the latter has spread in cat. no. 97, creating streaks on the surface of the tile.
Cat. no. 97 features two characters from the Shahnama (Book of Kings), Bahram Gur and his favorite harp player, Azada (see cat. nos. 55, 169).1 They are shown mounted on a camel, with Bahram Gur shooting at a deer while Azada plays her harp. In the upper register of the tile is a row of three running quadrupeds, two gazelles and a sphinx, set against a floral background. Cat. no. 98 shows two horsemen, one approaching from the right and the other from the left, in the act of dispatching the deer trapped between them with their swords.2 The composition suggests a narrative allusion, but none has yet been identified. The upper register of this tile is missing, but it is likely to have resembled that of cat. no. 97 in showing a sequence of animals.
The only Ilkhanid frieze tiles of known origin with pictorial representations come from Takht-i Sulaiman, and several examples of this type are in various collections.3 Images or text drawn from the Shahnama (see also cat. nos. 80-82, 95), such as the scene of Bahram Gur and Azada, were clearly deemed especially appropriate for this palace complex.
1. O. Watson 1985, pl. L,a.
2. Carboni and Masuya 1993, p. 23, no. 18.
3. See O. Watson 1977, pp. 109—10 and related notes.
Source: The Legacy of Genghis Khan Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353