A Mamluk blue and white pottery tile, Syria, first half 15th Century

of hexagonal form, decorated in underglaze blue on a white ground with a central design of a crane amidst flowering branches

ex-Collection J.P and F. Croisier

Institut du monde arabe, Paris, 1999
Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, 13 July - 27 September 2000

Mouliérac 1999, p.143 (illustrated)
Memorias do Imperio Árabe, Santiago de Compostela, 2000, no.132 (illustrated)

With the influx of Chinese blue and white ceramics into the Middle East in the late-14th century, the Mamluk potters embraced both the palette and some of the designs of these imported luxuries. Hexagonal tiles of this type are associated with Mamluk Syria, and in particular Damascus, where comparable tilework survives in situ in the mausoleum of Ghars al-Din al-Taurizi dating to the 1420s. This design exhibits a typical conflation of Middle Eastern and Far Eastern motifs with a Chinese crane in flight combined with a scrolling foliate motif.

distinctive crazing in glaze, some glaze chips around the extremities, intact, as viewed
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