Tile, cenotaph
BackDescription:
Tile panel. Ceramic; fritware (stonepaste) with moulded decoration, painted in lustre, blue and turquoise over an opaque white glaze. These two tiles were probably part of a three-part panel in the shape of a mihrab. It has been suggested that this panel once adorned the tomb of the Qadi Jalal al-Din `Ali whose name is inscribed in the inner frame. Besides four turqouise pilasters the tombstone is decorated with Qur'anic verse along the outer edge. The inscriptions are in naskh script and emphasised in cobalt blue.
Object type: | tile, cenotaph |
Museum number: | G.499 |
Culture/period: | Ilkhanid dynasty |
Date: | 1300-1350 |
Production place: | Made in: Kashan |
Materials: | stonepaste |
Technique: | lustred, moulded |
Dimensions: | Height: 124.00 cm Width: 56.00 cm Depth: 14.00 cm Weight: 225.00 kg Height: 73.00 cm (Top tile) Width: 56.00 cm (Top tile) Depth: 14.00 cm (Top tile) Height: 51.00 cm (Lower tile) Width: 56.00 cm (Lower tile) Depth: 14.00 cm (Lower tile) |
Inscriptions: | Inscription details: inscription (within frame) in Arabic in naskh script Inscription quoted: Inscription note: Inscribed with the name of Qadi Jalal al-Din `Ali. Description of Qadi as malik al-'ulama (honorific title - 'King of the Learned Men') and there follows his genealogy of seven earlier generations of qadis, or judges. Inscription: Inscription details: inscription (outside frame) in Arabic in naskh script Inscription quoted: Inscription note: Quotation from the Qur'an 2:255-56 (Ayat al-kursi, or the Throne Verse). A small amount of text is missing at either end of the inscription, suggesting that a third tile must once have completed the panel. |
Location: | 3 |
Exhibition history: | Exhibition History: 2018, 6 May- 30 June, National Museum, New Delhi, India and the World: A History in Nine Stories 2017-2018, 10 Nov 2017 - 18 Feb 2018, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai, India, India and the World: A History in Nine Stories |
Subjects: | calligraphy |
Associated names: | Associated with: Qadi Jalal al-Din `Ali |
Associated titles: | Inscription from: Qur'an (2:255 (Ayat al-kursi, or the Throne Verse)) |
Acquisition names: | Bequeathed by: Miss Edith Godman |
Acquisition date: | 1983 |
Curator's comments:
This is a tombstone in the form of a mihrab (prayer niche facing Mecca). In Iran those who had died were sometimes commemorated on tile panels placed into the walls of shrines. In the centre of this panel is the name of a senior judge (qadi), Jalal al-Din Ali. He is described as ‘the king of the learned men’. His genealogy is given through several generations of qadis. Around the sides is the ‘throne verse’, Qur’an 2:255-6.
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