Tiles of Kubadabad

Images from the palace

Excavations recovered star and cross shaped tiles, stucco and other decorated material from Kubadabad. TDV describes seated court figures, hunting and convivial scenes, animals and fantastic beings in a palette that includes turquoise, white and purple. The double headed eagle with an inscription is among the better known sovereign images.^[1]

Many tiles are now in Konya’s Karatay Tile Museum. Museum objects make the imagery accessible, while the findspots and surviving wall courses help explain how decoration functioned in rooms. A tile removed from a wall must be interpreted with both its image and its architectural context.^[2]

Interpreting figures

Some identifications of individual royal portraits remain interpretations rather than labels written on every tile. The programme gives evidence of courtly taste and skilled production, not a literal illustrated diary of palace life. Comparison with Beyşehir carpet fragments reveals different materials and transmission histories within medieval art.^[2]

Tiles in excavated rooms

The Kubadabad excavations preserve more than detached display pieces. Çeken and Yavaş report tiles still in place in the Great Palace, including a room with surviving wall decoration reaching roughly 1.5–2 metres. The bath yielded turquoise glazed material and a cross-shaped fragment indicating a star-and-cross wall arrangement. The find positions help reconstruct which surfaces were decorated, though fallen pieces still need careful archaeological interpretation.^[3]

The palace also produced tile pavements and different decorative phases. In the bath, the authors discuss hexagonal and zigzag floor tiles at different levels, a clue to renewed flooring rather than one unchanged interior. These physical contexts matter because museum displays usually separate individual tiles from their original architectural sequence.^[4]

Technique and imagery

The chapter identifies both underglaze and lustre techniques in star and cross tiles. Figural subjects include double-headed eagles with royal inscriptions, peacocks, birds on trees, fish, fantastic beings and people holding cups or flowers. The range joins courtly, animal and vegetal imagery; it should not be reduced to a single symbol or read as a literal picture of every activity that occurred at the palace.^[5]

Ceramic bowls and other vessels were found alongside architectural tiles, but they had different uses. Çeken and Yavaş note related materials and techniques while identifying vessels such as plates, bowls and vases separately. The distinction lets the tile article explain the walls and floors of a royal complex without treating every decorated sherd as part of the same wall.^[6]