The museum has an outstanding collection of ceramic tiles, in the first instance the lustreware ones produced by the craftsmen of Kashan in Iran in the thirteenth to mid-fourteenth centuries CE. Among the highlights of the collection is a mihrab (niche) from a mosque, dated 1226, a work so elegant as to be chosen for the front dust jacket illustration of Ettinghausen, Grabar and Jenkins-Madina's classic volume in the Pelican History of Art. Of course Kashan tiles are well known in many collections--no attempt has been made here to provide all the relevant links to other examples. In particular though one can recommend the thematically very broad collection exhibited in the Islamic galleries of the British Museum.

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	Prayer niche (mihrab) Iran, Kashan, main mosque on Maydan. 1226. Finished by al-Hasan bin Arabshah. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painted. H.: 2.8 m. Inv. I.5366 Pub.: Islamic Art, p. 48; Grabar, no. 280, p. 179, and dust jacket; Hattstein, p. 449
	Tiles with Quranic texts from Sura 3: part of verse 18, and sura 68:52. Iran, Kashan. 13th c. CE. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.13/67a,b
	Star tile with Persian verses Iran, Kashan. Safar 739/Aug-Sept. 1338. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.1009
	Star tile with sitting rulers in conversation Iran, Kashan. 14th c. CE. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.3873
	Tile with part of Quran sura 76 Iran, Kashan. Ca. 1307 CE. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.3899
	Tile with text from Quran sura 36:14,19,32 (the tiles seem to be from different places in a much longer inscription). Note, in the museum display, the position of the two tiles on the left here is reversed. Iran, Kashan. End 13th-beg. 14th c. CE. Lajvardina ware. Inv. Nr. I.5372-5374
	Tiles with Nashi script Iran, Kashan; Imamzade Yahya in Varamin. 661 AH/1262-63 CE. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.3864 Compare others from, apparently, the same site, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1837_1892 etc.
	Tiles with Persian verses, part of panel from palace Domgan (N. Iran). 665 AH/1266-7 CE. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. L: 48 ; W: 55 cm. Inv. Nr. I.3865-3870 Pub.: Islamic Art, pp. 102-103.
	Tile with Chinese/Buddhist motifs Iran, Kashan. 2nd half of 13th c. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. Inv. Nr. I.6216
	Tile with hunt scene from a larger frieze in a palace Iran, Kashan or Rayy. 13th c. Stonepaste ceramic with under- and over-glaze; gold leaf (mina'i technique) Inv. Nr. I.6218
	Curved tile with inscription Iran, Kashan; from mihrab of a mosque in Natanz. Ca. 1307. Stonepaste ceramic, underglaze and lustre painting. 39 x 69 cm. The large Kufic script reproduces the profession of faith; the small Nashi script Sura 76 of the Quran. Tiles with the continuation of the inscription are in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon (France). Inv. I.1277 Pub.: Islamic Art, p. 102
	Mihrab of Beyhakim mosque Konya, Anatolia. 3rd quarter 13th c. CE. Faience mosaic. H: 3.95 m.; W: 2.8 m. Inv. Nr. I.7193 Pub.: Islamic Art, p. 62-65

Revised January 18, 2009