Star-shaped tile with phoenix design

A proud phoenix, surrounded by Chinese-style clouds and enclosed within a band of Persian poetry, spreads its elaborate plumage and takes center stage on this tile. The lyrical poem describes the qualities of the beloved, “whose face is like the sun, if only the sun were adorned with musk.” Dated or signed works are rare in Islamic art, but this tile has the year 691 (of the Islamic calendar, 1292–1293) inscribed in its upper right corner.

Originally a Chinese imperial motif, the phoenix was often combined with a dragon to represent the empress and emperor. As a decorative motif brought from China by the Mongols and used by their successors in Iran, the Ilkhanids, the phoenix lost its original associations and was merged with the simurgh, a Persian auspicious mythical bird.