tile;
cenotaph
- Museum number
- G.499
- Description
-
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.
- Production date
- 1300-1350
- Dimensions
-
Height: 51 centimetres (Lower tile)
-
Height: 73 centimetres (Top tile)
-
Height: 124 centimetres
-
Weight: 225 kilograms
-
Width: 56 centimetres (Lower tile)
-
Width: 56 centimetres (Top tile)
-
Width: 56 centimetres
-
Depth: 14 centimetres (Lower tile)
-
Depth: 14 centimetres (Top tile)
-
Depth: 14 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
-
- 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.
- Location
- On display (G42/dc2)
- 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
- Associated titles
Inscription from: Qur'an (2:255 (Ayat al-kursi, or the Throne Verse))
- Acquisition date
- 1983
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- G.499
