Historical period
Ilkhanid
ایلخانی1256–1353 · Contact across Asia introduces new pigments and painting conventions; Lajvardina ware and large-scale tile schemes appear.
Key developments
- Lajvardina ceramics
- Manuscript illustration
- Monumental tilework
Centres of production
TabrizSultaniyyaKashan
Crafts documented in this period
| Craft | Category | In brief |
|---|---|---|
| Tabriz carpet | Textiles | The workshop carpet tradition of Tabriz in East Azerbaijan, characterised by drawn cartoons, a distinctive hook-knife weaving method and a wide range of fineness grades. |
| Persian miniature | Painting | The Iranian tradition of small-scale painting made for manuscripts and albums, built from fine line, flat luminous colour and layered spatial convention rather than single-point perspective. |
| Moarraq tile mosaic | Ceramics | A technique of architectural revetment in which monochrome glazed tiles are cut into small individual pieces to a template and set together, glaze face down, into a mortar bed to form complex polychrome patterns and inscriptions. |
| Inlaid metalwork | Metalwork | Decoration of brass, bronze or steel vessels by setting silver, copper or gold into cut recesses, producing figurative scenes, inscriptions and ornament in contrasting colour. |
| Lustreware (Zarrin-fam) | Ceramics | A ceramic decoration in which metallic oxides are painted onto a glazed surface and fired in a reducing kiln to produce a metallic sheen, associated especially with Kashan. |
| Stucco carving (Gach-bori) | Architectural ornamentation | The carving and moulding of gypsum plaster into architectural ornament, including mihrabs, inscriptions, muqarnas and wall panels. |
Period dates follow conventional scholarly ranges. Attributing a single object to a period is often uncertain; this page is under review.