Fragmentary tile with dragon decoration, Ilkhanid Iran, poss - Lot 255

Fragmentary tile with dragon decoration, Ilkhanid Iran, possibly Takht-e Suleiman, second half 13th century Siliceous ceramic tile with molded and painted decoration on turquoise glaze, known as lajvardina, depicting the hindquarters of a dragon standing out against a background of tchi clouds and topped by a floral frieze. Height: 28.9 cm; max. widthmax. width: 17 cm Fragmentary tile, some chips, traces of mortar. Provenance : E. Sassoon, 22 rue Drouot, Paris, circa 1930. Although fragmentary, this tile is a fine example of the luxurious ceramic production of the Ilkhanid period. It was decorated using the complex "petit-feu" technique known as lajvardina, attested between the mid-13th and mid-14th centuries. The dragon iconography betrays the omnipresent Chinese influence in the art of this Mongol dynasty, cousin of the Yuan. Numerous dragon tiles from this period, either star-shaped (like tile AD 11991 in the Louvre) or rectangular, decorated with metallic lustre (like tile 541-1900 in London's Victoria and Albert Museum) or petit-feu, come from the Takht-e Suleiman summer palace built for the ruler Abaqa in 1270, allowing us to suggest such a provenance for this piece.