Tehran Tilework, 1800-1850

Tile panel incomplete (six tiles in two parts), fritware mixed with coarse buff-coloured clay), comprising four square tiles and two rectangular tiles, covered with tin-opacified white slip and polychrome painted. The elaborate design imitates Qajar enamelwork on gold. The design is complex and carefully ordered consisting of a series of pictorial and floral themes vertically aligned from top to bottom:-

This rectangular corner tile depicts a cornucopia of roses and other flowers above a peacock's tail-feathers against a golden-yellow ground with a black edge beside a narrow border pattern with a continuous repeat of European buildings in a landscape medallion alternating with medallions of flowerheads on a deep blue ground. Mounted on a wood frame with three other tiles in an ebonized wood and gold lined frame.