Examination of the Attribution of Time and Place of Production of the Table Tile Preserved in the National Museum of Kashan

The diversity of pottery and tile production occasionally includes new and unconventional applications.The use of large tile pieces as tabletop surfaces can be considered one such example.An octagonal tabletop tile preserved in the Kashan National Museum, attributed to the Qajar era, is the focus of this study.This research seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this tile by examining its visual features, historical data on similar Qajar-era examples, and pottery production from the last century, supported by evidence and documentation.This study, conducted using a historical-analytical method, employed both library and field studies for data collection.The repeated inscription of the phrase "Sanye Ghadimeh" (Ancient Crafts) in the corner medallions used in the decoration of this tile serves as the key to determining its period and place of production.By examining this inscription in other tile productions, we identified examples from the Pahlavi era, all of which were products of the Sanye Ghadimeh Tile Workshop.Some tiles from this workshop were custom-made for the royal court and government offices.The results of the study indicate that this tabletop tile is among the ceramic productions of the Pahlavi era from the Sanye Ghadimeh Tile Workshop, which has been misattributed to the Qajar era due to its visual similarity to some underglaze ceramic productions of that period.