Star-shaped tile

The potter has found a balance between copper brown luster and reserve white for the squiggles and curls that make up the details of the vegetal motifs. The tile would have been placed with others on the walls of a mosque or shrine complex, where figural decoration would have been inappropriate. The tile is inscribed with lines from a chapter of the Koran describing the "Night of Grandeur" when the first verses of the Koran are believed to have been revealed to Muhammad in 610. A date corresponding to 1265 is given.

This same date appears on a group of more than thirty luster tiles of similar dimensions. The other tiles also feature related floral, vegetal, and geometric designs, and they would have been fitted together with similarly decorated cross-shaped tiles to form wall panels. The monument to which these tiles originally belonged is unknown.