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Lot Essay
The inscription in the main panels is from the Qur'an, sura al-fath, (XLVIII), vv.1-3, followed by a prayer. In the lower part of the panels is the signature amal-e al-ustad (the master craftsman) Muhammad Ja'far b. Bustan.
An appreciation of these very unusual doors is obscured by the thick layer of black paint that is now on the surface. It is also certain that they are not the product of a major metropolitan centre, although the calligraphy in the upper panels shows a considerable mastery of that art. There are however a couple of carved wooden panels that give a strong indication of our doors' probable origin. A carved panel, said to be from a sarcophagus, in the National Museum, Tehran, has a design of an inscription panel above three roundels, each of which has a very different design, one of which is very similar indeed to one of the roundels on our door (A. U. Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1465). The sarcophagus panel in Tehran is dated 898/1492 giving us a possible indication for our doors. The upper roundel on our right-hand door also bears a passing relationship to the interlace design on one of the panels of the cenotaph in the Rhode Island School of Design which is dated 877/1473 (Pope, op. cit., pl.1472). The design in the border is also one that was used in the 15th century, for instance in tileswork of the Madrasa of Shihab al-Din Qasim Taraz in Yazd (Doublas Pickett, Early Persian Tilework, Cranbury NJ, London and Mississauga, 1997, pl.94 in particular) and also on a cenotaph in the Khalili Collection (N. Pourjavady (gen. ed.), The Splendour of Iran, London, 2001, vol.3, pp.218-9).
An appreciation of these very unusual doors is obscured by the thick layer of black paint that is now on the surface. It is also certain that they are not the product of a major metropolitan centre, although the calligraphy in the upper panels shows a considerable mastery of that art. There are however a couple of carved wooden panels that give a strong indication of our doors' probable origin. A carved panel, said to be from a sarcophagus, in the National Museum, Tehran, has a design of an inscription panel above three roundels, each of which has a very different design, one of which is very similar indeed to one of the roundels on our door (A. U. Pope, A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1465). The sarcophagus panel in Tehran is dated 898/1492 giving us a possible indication for our doors. The upper roundel on our right-hand door also bears a passing relationship to the interlace design on one of the panels of the cenotaph in the Rhode Island School of Design which is dated 877/1473 (Pope, op. cit., pl.1472). The design in the border is also one that was used in the 15th century, for instance in tileswork of the Madrasa of Shihab al-Din Qasim Taraz in Yazd (Doublas Pickett, Early Persian Tilework, Cranbury NJ, London and Mississauga, 1997, pl.94 in particular) and also on a cenotaph in the Khalili Collection (N. Pourjavady (gen. ed.), The Splendour of Iran, London, 2001, vol.3, pp.218-9).