A FINE RAQQA TURQUOISE GLAZED POTTERY TILE, SYRIA, LATE 12TH-EARLY 13TH CENTURY

moulded and decorated with a rich vivid opalescent turquoise alkaline glaze with a central aperture in the form of an eight-pointed star enclosed by high relief split-palmette scrolls and a trilobed palmette in each corner within raised line borders

This tile is noteworthy for the magnificent opalescent sheen with areas of coppery rainbow iridescence that has formed on the turquoise glaze.

For similar examples sold in these rooms, see Arts of the Islamic World, April 2004, Lot 105. A further unpublished example is to be found in the David Collection, Copenhagen.