Tile with horse-rider and falcon
Photogallery
Tile with horse-rider and falcon
Decorative tile depicting the characteristic hunt with a falcon in which a landscape with floral shoots and water birds provides the backdrop to the regal figure in the saddle of his steed, showing the bird of prey with its wings half open. This type of painted tile adorned the walls of buildings, a custom that developed significantly under the Qajar dynasty that governed Iran from 1779 to 1925.
Falconry, still widely practiced today, was already widespread in the Middle East in the seventh century B.C. Typical of nomadic populations, it originated from the plateaux of the Asian steppes and, via ancient Persia, spread throughout the West up to Arabia.