Name of Object:

Tile panel

Location:

Stockholm, Sweden

Holding Museum:

Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities (Medelhavsmuseet)

About Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities (Medelhavsmuseet), Stockholm

Date of Object:

Hegira 12th–13th centuries / AD 18th–19th centuries

Museum Inventory Number:

S.N.I. 032

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Ceramic; faience.

Dimensions:

Height 139 cm, width 73.5 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Husaynid (Ottoman)

Provenance:

Tunisia, possibly Tunis.

Description:

The rectangular panel is composed of square tiles dominated by a white and brown horseshoe-shaped arch (mihrab – prayer niche) with a yellow half-moon on it. The arch is supported by two columns, decorated with a zigzag pattern in turquoise, opaque yellow and light blue, each standing on a base and with a capital. A dense, symmetrical floral design fills the area under the arch emerging from a large footed bowl supplemented by a second smaller one and a vase above. The bowl is flanked symmetrically with cypress-like trees with half-moons on the top and two birds beside the foot. Two other birds are shown on the rim of the large bowl from which also spring two sprays of flowers. From the centre of the vase a fantastic composite-blossom emerges with the stems of other flowers on its point. The sprays of flowers growing out from the stems of the central axis fill the field within the arch. Two sprays with blossoms like carnations and peonies and two serrated-edged leaves in combination with sprays of white flowers take up the remaining area under the arch. The spandrels are symmetrically filled with half-palmette motifs and scrollwork in reverse against a blue background. Although the potters used a standardised repertoire of decorative elements such as the mihrab, vase motifs and symmetrical composed flowers, the decoration of these tile panels is individual.
In the AH 11th and 12th / AD 17th and 18th centuries, faience (glazed coloured earthenware) became the dominant element of Tunisian architectural decoration. After a first firing the tiles are covered with an opaque white tin glaze. The mineral pigments used for the polychrome decoration are applied over the dried glaze. In a second firing, glaze and pigments are melted together. The colours used – antimony yellow, copper turquoise, cobalt-blue and manganese brown – are typical for faience, suitable for withstanding high temperatures.

Rectangular panel of faience tiles painted with a horseshoe-shaped arch. A dense floral design, emerging from a footed bowl, fills the area under the arch. In the AH 11th–12th / AD 17th–18th centuries, faience (glazed coloured earthenware) became the dominant element of Tunisian architectural decoration.

How date and origin were established:

This tile panel shows close similarities to panels made by a faience atelier working from about the mid-12th–mid-13th / mid-18th–mid-19th centuries.

How Object was obtained:

There is no information about acquisition.

How provenance was established:

The style of decoration was characteristic of ateliers in Tunis.

Selected bibliography:

Coleurs de Tunisie: 25 Siècles de Céramique, Exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1994.
Loviconi, A. and Loviconi, D., Les Faiences de Tunisie, Aix-en-Provence, 1994.

Citation of this web page:

Friederike Voigt "Tile panel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;11;en

Prepared by: Friederike VoigtFriederike Voigt

Friederike Voigt has an MA in Iranian studies, history of art and social science and is currently working on her doctoral thesis on wall tiles in architectural decoration of Qajar Iran. Since 2004 she has been a project-related curator at the Museum for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm for Museum With No Frontiers. She studied at Humboldt University in Berlin, at the University of Tehran and archaeology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. She taught Persian language at several universities in Germany. She was an assistant curator at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Cultures at the Museum of Ethnology, State Museums of Berlin. Her main fields of interest are the material culture of Iran, especially of the Qajar period, and contemporary Iranian art.
Copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: SE 12