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A late 19th century Persian moulded pottery tile sold for £5800 at Bellmans’ auction.

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Each in a rosewood frame, the larger of the two, illustrated above, measured 15¾in x 19½in (40 x 50cm) and depicted a musician beneath a tree flanked by other figures.

Estimated at £800-1200, it sold at £5800.

The second tile, measuring 12½ x 14in (32 x 36cm), was also decorated in the exuberant style which emerged during the Qajar dynasty.

Depicting four courtly figures in a landscape with a pavilion in the distance, it was estimated at £500-700 and sold at £3900.

Both tiles were private buys.

Best-seller among the 166 Asian lots at the February 3 sale was an 18in (46cm) tall 18th-19th century Chinese baluster vase which carried the catalogue caveat a/f and was estimated at £400-600.

Beautifully painted in underglaze-blue and copper-red with birds among branches of flowering prunus, it sold at £8000.