Tile with Image of Phoenix

Unknown artist

After the Mongol conquest of Persia in the thirteenth century, an extensive trade network opened from China to the Mediterranean, allowing goods to move more freely than in prior centuries. This image of a soaring phoenix with crested head and elaborate trailing plumage exemplifies the adaptation of Chinese imagery by Persian artists in this period. Ilkhanid-period artists readily adopted imagery from Chinese iconography—including lotus flowers, deer, dragons, and other mythical creatures.