Persian Blue Frit Circular Bird Pendant

Kashan or Raqqa Workshops, Seljuk – Ilkhanid Period, c. 12th – 13th Century CE

A wonderfully tactile and richly coloured medieval Islamic turquoise-glazed faience / siliceous-frit pendant plaque of irregular discoid form with a moulded suspension loop at the top, the obverse modelled in low relief with two confronted birds (peacocks or partridges) within a circular border, the reverse plain and softly rippled. The piece is covered in the celebrated brilliant turquoise alkaline glaze of medieval Persian ceramic tradition, with darker pooling in the recesses of the moulded design and selective earthen / mineral encrustations consistent with long burial.  The paired confronted birds within a roundel is one of the most beloved motifs of medieval Islamic decorative art, drawn from the broader Sasanian / pre-Islamic Persian repertoire of paradisiacal garden imagery and carried forward into Seljuk and Ilkhanid faience and lustreware of the 12th – 13th century CE.

The motif appears widely on Kashan and Raqqa stone-paste wares, where it carries connotations of paradise (firdaws), love, and royal felicity. Such pendant plaques with integral suspension loops were worn as amulets, prestige pendants, or fixed as architectural / talismanic attachments, and a central pellet or seed between the birds — visible here at the base of the roundel — is a characteristic Persian element symbolizing the fruit / grain of paradise.  Reverse plain with a softly rippled / pebbled glaze surface.    Stable medieval condition with attractive surface bloom, glaze loss and burial encrustation around the perimeter typical of the type. Both birds, the central seed/pellet, and the suspension loop are fully preserved. 
Dimensions 2-3/8 in L (including suspension loop) + Mounted on a custom black square pedestal with metal cradle.