Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

In the Iranian world, the use of tiles in architectural decoration dates back to pre-Islamic times. Decorated with a range of techniques including underglaze and overglaze painting, tiles had practical, aesthetic and broader cultural implications. While providing a protective barrier to otherwise perishable brick constructions, tile coverings spoke about a building’s function as much as about the social status, wealth and aspirations of its patron.

This panel, decorated with the cuerda seca technique, can be dated to the mid-17th century when elaborate tile compositions were made to decorate garden pavilions and palaces in Iran, especially in Isfahan, then capital of the Safavid empire (1501-1736). Scenes of garden entertainment and hunting, found in examples that have survived in museum collections, provide a window on the luxurious lifestyles of early modern Iran. In this particular example, the decoration does not include human figures but depicts a verdant garden inhabited by animals and birds. These are arranged in symmetrical fashion either side of a central lobed motif.

The technique known as cuerda seca (literally ‘dry cord’) was meant to reproduce the effect of tile mosaic without its time-consuming process. Various glazes were applied to the ceramic surface separated by thin lines of a greasy, manganese-based, substance. With firing, this compound would disappear, leaving neat dark outlines around the different areas of colour.