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Ilkhanid Frieze Star Tile with Elephant and Rider, Takht-i Sulaiman, Iran, 1270s.

Fig. 109 (cat. no. 96). Frieze tile with elephant and rider, Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), 1270s.
Ceramic, overglaze luster-painted.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan Palevsky (M. 73.5.222)


96                           Fig. 109
Frieze Tile with Elephant and Rider
Iran (probably Takht-i Sulaiman), 1270s
Fritware, overglaze luster-painted
28 x 28.6 cm (11 x 11¼ in.)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan Palevsky (M.73.5.222)

Although the specific figural scene was not found at the site, this tile is closely related in size and format to luster frieze tiles excavated at Takht-i Sulaiman¹ and seems likely to have been intended for that complex.² As in the frieze tiles specifically associated with Takht-i Sulaiman (cat. nos. 95, 97), the decoration, molded in relief, is in three registers. In the upper border is a tile of three spotted dogs (?). Below, in the main field, is an elephant mounted by a mahout and bearing a passenger seated in a palanquin; two male figures, one walking ahead and the other behind, form an escort. The figural imagery on tiles of this type is often associated with the Shahnama (e.g., cat. no. 95) and accompanied by inscriptions quoting from the text. The composition here may have to do with the story of Bahram Gur when he returned from India with his bride.³ The luster inscription in the lowest register is too fragmentary to be legible.

1. Pal 1973, p. 46, no. 68.
2. See Masuya 1997, pp. 534-44, where an identical tile in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is noted.
3. Ibid.
Source: The Legacy of Genghis Khan Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353