Split-Leaf Palmettes and Composite Sprays

Syria (Damascus), late 16th/early 17th century

Height: 20 cm
Width: 20 cm

A symmetrical polychrome underglaze-painted square tile, in hues of cobalt blue, apple green and black against a crisp white ground and depicting an interlacing framework of composite floral sprays and split-leaf palmettes surrounding a central stylised rosette, all under a thick glaze.

The centre features a single stylised blue rosette with a white bud framed by a cusped apple green roundel and surrounded by cobalt trefoil petals. Flanking the rosette are four black composite lotus sprays, one to each side, the sprays containing a green crescent cartouche. Large cobalt split-leaf palmettes fill the remaining spaces, each with white and green cloud-like cartouches within. The tips of each palmette join together with one another to form a cross-shaped cartouche within which the composite sprays and central rosette are contained. Further tendrils emerge from each palmette connecting the inner sprays, creating a cohesive symmetrical design. To the edges are further cobalt tendrils and half composite sprays in apple green.

Identical tiles can be seen in situ in the mausoleum of Mohi al-Din Arabi in Salhiyya, Damascus, and are briefly discussed in Arthur Millner, Damascus Tiles, 2015, p. 171. For an almost identical tile in a similar palette, see Arthur Millner, Damascus Tiles, 2015, p. 275, fig. 6.7 and also the at the Victoria and Albert Museum, museum nos. 660-1893 and 506 to B-1900.