Ceramic Architectural Decoration (13th century): Artwork and History

Ceramic Architectural Decoration (13th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Iran.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Tiles like this would probably have embellished the tops of fortress walls as decorative projections. The molding process used to make this tile would have allowed for the easy production of identical pieces, an important consideration in a region in which symmetry and repetition were highly valued. The arabesque design, molded in three dimensions, emphasizes the interlacing pattern of elements weaving over and under one another. This decorative feature can also be found in other objects from the era, such as metalwork.

Object facts

• Title: Ceramic Architectural Decoration
• Date: 13th century
• Artist attribution: Iran
• Place of origin: Rey
• Medium: Fritware, with carved and molded decoration under a turquoise glaze
• Dimensions: 52.1 × 40.5 × 5.6 cm (20 1/2 × 16 × 2 3/16)
• Type: Architectural fragment
• Department: Arts of Asia
• Reference number: 1933.819

Collection credit

Gift of Frank G. Logan, Henry J. Patten, and Martin A. Ryerson

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.