late 12th-13th century, with 20th-century fills
Town Rayy,
Iran
Iran
Object qualities
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Objectreligious building decoration: Fragmentary tile
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Type of arts & crafts
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MediumStonepaste; in-glaze and overglaze-painted, opaque white glaze
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SizeH. 4 in. (10.2 cm) W. 3 3/4 in.( 9.5 cm)
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Geography detailsSaid to be from
Town Rayy,
Iran -
Country today
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Datelate 12th-13th century, with 20th-century fills
Source of information
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Type of sourceDatabase “Metropolitan Museum of Art”
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Fund that the source refers toMetropolitan Museum of Art
Description
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Whether loose or on a building, Iranian glazed tiles fascinated scholars and collectors for aesthetic reasons. The tiles’ role in the decoration of facades and minarets in the second half of the eleventh century became an early subject of academic investigation. This tile shows a once-common restoration that isoverzealous by today’s standards: the missing portion was reconstructed and filled in, and the painting completed. Before museum conservators separated the filling, the restoration would have been barely detectable. The tile originally had a different, probably pointed shape (see the small trace of a corner on the bottom right).