Mosaic Tile Panel with Design of Flowers and Interlocking Vines

This tile panel comes from the inner portal of the mausoleum of a holy man in Isfahan in central Iran. Shrines often benefitted from very high-level patronage, as evidenced here by the use of the expensive and time-consuming tile mosaic technique. To keep the bright colors apart during the firing process, they are applied to separate pieces of tile, baked in the kiln, and then assembled like a puzzle.This technique was first developed by Iranian ceramicists, many of whom were forcibly taken to Samarqand in Central Asia (Transoxiana) by the conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) in the late 14th century. Tile mosaic continued to evolve there with lavish Timurid patronage, with graceful new floral styles that were then brought back to Iran.