A TIMURID CALLIGRAPHIC POTTERY TILE, CENTRAL ASIA OR EASTERN PERSIA, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

Of rectangular convex form, decorated in blue, turquoise, brick-red, black and white, outlined with a section of a calligraphic inscription in floriated kufic in white on a blue ground under a turqouise border. 39 by 23 cm. Inscriptions: In white colour, floriated Kufic script of the words '' Ya Hannan'', ( Very Giver, Very Compassionate).On this tile, the white inscription does somewhat resemble a white swan swimming in cobalt blue water. The inscription 'Ya Hannan' is probably part of the common pious phrase 'Ya Hannan, Yan Mannan', found on architecture. The form of the tile, convex means that this particular tile is most likely from a funerary monument or religious building (Mosque Minaret or inside pillar).This tile relates in style, decoration, design and colour scheme to those on a column of the mausoleum dome of the madrasa of Gawharshad in Herat, built circa 1432 (Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Los Angeles, 1989, fig. 31, p. 89).