Away from Accommodation? The Apparent Assertion of Identity in Late Ilkhanid Tiles

António Barrento

Assistant Professor, Lisbon University – School of Arts and Humanities

A number of Mongol features emerged in tiles of the late Ilkhanid period while they had been absent until then. This paper aims to look into why this happened, the issue being all the more pertinent when considering the trend of local accommodation that was taking place during the dynasty (AD 1256-1335). This process took on many forms, including the Ilkhanate’s adoption of ambivalent Mongol and Persian behaviour from the beginning, the conversion to Islam of Ilkhans Tegüder, who reigned from AD 1282 to 1284, and Ghazan, who officially celebrated it in AD 1295, and the Ilkhanid proclamation of the reestablishment of Iran, along with the severing of political links with the Great Khan in China in AD 1295. In fact, an evolution occurred that may well explain the tendency to a higher absorption of Mongol motifs even as the Ilkhanids were turning to local traditions. During the reign of Mongol Emperor Temür (AD 1294-1307), measures were taken to solve long-standing confrontations among the khanates, culminating in a general peace agreement that stimulated commerce. This being so, could the Mongol features be a statement of identity? It has been remarked that inscriptions on star tiles referring to their production in Kashan have only been found on late examples, from the end of the Ilkhanid period. This has been interpreted as possibly meaning that Kashan was having greater difficulty in maintaining its lustre-painted tile industry in the middle of the fourteenth century, perhaps because of increasing competition. In this context, invoking the prestigious name of Kashan would have served as a promotional asset. Would the inclusion of the Mongol elements have served as an appeal to a possible patronage niche, as an expression of nostalgia for a lost past or even as both?