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Ilkhanid Frieze Star Tile with Hunt Scene, Takht-i Sulaiman, Iran, 1270s.

Fig. 98 (cat. no. 94.). Frieze tile with hunters on horseback, Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), 1270s.
Fritware, overglaze painted (lajvardina).
Miho Museum, Shigaraki, Japan (SS 1480)


94                           Fig. 98
Frieze Tile
Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), 1270s
Fritware, overglaze painted (Iajvardina)
52.5 x 44.5 cm (20⅝ x 17½ in.)
Miho Museum, Shigaraki, Japan (SS1480)

As in other frieze tiles of the period, the molded relief decoration here is in three registers: a broad central zone between two narrower bands of unequal width that serve as borders.¹ In the upper register is a file of animals depicted in various states of activity: a running bull, a pacing lion, and a rabbit that has paused to look behind. The lower register is filled by a scrolling leaf vine with six-petaled rosettes. In the central zone is a pair of mounted hunters, one crowned and holding a hawk, the other accompanied by a cheetah seated on his horse’s rump. The riders gallop to the left across a conceptualized landscape of tall, leafy, flowering plants, while a trio of birds flies above their heads. Tiles evidently made from the same mold but decorated in the luster technique were excavated at Takht-i Sulaiman.² Assadullahm Souren Melikian-Chirvani has related the central scene to two events described in the Shahnama (Book of Kings): Bizhan’s hunt in Gurgan, and Bahram Gur’s hunt with a hawk and a cheetah.³ Companion frieze tiles depicting mounted hunters shooting at birds were also excavated at Takht-i Sulaiman and have likewise been associated with the Iranian national epic.⁴ Such tiles, along with others inscribed with verses from the Shahnama that were excavated at Takht-i Sulaiman (see cat. nos. 80-82), may have been intended to link the founders of this palace with the traditions of Iranian kingship.

1. Miho Museum 1997, pp. 304-5, no. 148.
2. E. Naumann and R. Naumann 1969, fig. 6; R. Naumann and E. Naumann 1976, pp. 51-53. See also Masuya 1997, pp. 506-8.
3. Melikian-Chirvani 1984, pp. 268-69. Gluck 1980, no. 278, also connects this scene to the Shahnama, but identifies the two hunters as King Naiman and Bahram.
4. R. Naumann and E. Naumann 1976, pp. 51-53, pl. 8a; Masuya 1997, pp. 505-6. See also Melikian-Chirvani 1984, pp. 269-70.
Source: The Legacy of Genghis Khan Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353