{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1511727"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1511727/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JX4382/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JX4382/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017JX4382","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HE6594","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1511727/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1511727","accessionNumber":"522:4-1889","objectType":"Tile","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This fireplace surround was commissioned around 1884-5, by a French composer of military music, Alfred Lemaire (1842-1907), as a large set of tiles (see 510, 511, & 512-1889). The tiles reference the colourful, monumental seventeenth-century multi-tile panels that decorated palaces in Isfahan during the Safavid period. The subjects were typically of elegant courtiers drinking wine in lush gardens (see for example V&A 139-1891). ","physicalDescription":"Ten tiles comprising: six rectangular border tiles moulded and underglaze painted in polychrome with alternating floral centres and borders of split leaf scrolling foliate design on a blue ground, and four square tile (2 corner) similarly decorated with a continuous foliate scroll and (two unglazed) with inscriptions, with a turquoise quarter medallion and foliate scrollwork diagonally alligned.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Isfahani, Ali Muhammad","id":"A11422"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":"His patron was Albert Jean-Baptiste Le Maire (1842-1907), a French military musician and composer, who went to Iran in 1868 to train the staff of the music department at Tehran's Dar al-Funun polytechnical college."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Fritware","id":"x29419"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Fritware, moulded, underglaze painted in polychrome. Fritware is a mixture of finely ground white flint stone and white clay. It is molded into flat panels and painted in colours based on minerals and metals, such as blue from cobalt, purple from manganese, black from chromium, yellow from iron or antimony, turquoise and green from copper, when dried it is covered with a transparent colourless alkaline glaze. Many of the colours run into the glaze during firing, so the outlines are drawn in black for sharper designs.","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Tiles","id":"THES48884"}],"styles":[{"text":"Qajar","id":"AAT21708"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2017JX4382","2014HE6594"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES340092"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"tile","id":"AAT10676"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Tehran","id":"x35420"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Made at the tilemakers quarter at the Shahzadeh Abdul Azim Gate, to the south of the city"},{"place":{"text":"Iran","id":"x30220"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1884-1885","earliest":"1884-01-01","latest":"1885-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"1302AH"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"09/12/2025","earliest":"2025-12-09","latest":"2025-12-09"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"09/12/2025","earliest":"2025-12-09","latest":"2025-12-09"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Rectangular tiles (6) Length 33 cm. Width 14.5 cm. Depth 2.5 cm.\r\nSquare tiles (4) Length 14.3 cm. Width 14.3 cm Depth 2.5 cm.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"1. Right. 'Ordered by the confidante of his Imperial Majesty, Monsieur Le Maire, Chief Musicmaster of the Government of Iran in 1302 A.H. [1884-5 A.D.]' \r\n2. Left. ' In the capital Tehran the work of Ali Muhammad tilemaker of Isfahan, the workshop at the gate of Shahzadeh Abdul Azim.'\r\n","transliteration":"","type":"","note":" Persian inscription in two tri-lobed cartouches centred in upper border written in nast 'aliq script in black."}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Tile, from fireplace surround of ten parts, glazed moulded fritware, painted design of ogival medallions and half-palmette borders, with two Persian inscriptions naming the patron Albert Lemaire and artist `Ali Muhammad Isfahani, Tehran, Iran, dated 1302H, 1884-1885","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jennifer M. Scarce, 'Ali Mohammed Isfahani, Tilemaker of Tehran,' Oriental Art N.S. 22 (Autumn 1976), 278-88 (table 1, no. 9).\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"International exhibition, 1889","id":"V1029"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["522:4-1889"],"accessionNumberNum":"522","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1889,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-09","recordCreationDate":"2019-09-19","availableToBook":true}}