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1001 — AN INDEPENDENT ART PUBLICATIONLIBERTY OF ART. ART OF LIBERTY.EDITION 01 / THE OPEN JOURNAL
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The Donkey Inside the Star

Thirteenth-century Kashan pottery makes an argument for looking twice.

1001 Editorial Desk29 October 20261 MIN READ

The surface is a star. The Met's catalogue tags a donkey. Suddenly geometry has company.

01 / 01

The object

This lustre-painted stonepaste tile was probably made in Kashan in Iran during the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Blue and turquoise sit alongside the luminous quality of lustre.

One shape, a few colours, an entire visual interruption. Good objects do not need an essay every time. Sometimes they need a viewer willing to come closer.

Star-Shaped Tile, 13th–14th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public-domain open access image.
THE OBJECT / PRIMARY SOURCE

Star-Shaped Tile

Maker unknown · 13th–14th century
Glazed stonepaste and lustre · Iran / probably Kashan
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Interpretive writing by the 1001 Editorial Desk. No interviews or original field reporting are claimed for this edition.
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