Tombstone in the Form of an Architectural Niche in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2019

Tombstone in the Form of an Architectural Niche
dated A.H. 753/A.D. 1352


Object Details

Title: Tombstone in the Form of an Architectural Niche

Date: dated A.H. 753/A.D. 1352

Geography: Made in Iran, Yazd

Medium: Marble; carved

Dimensions: H. 32 3/4 in. (83.2 cm)
W. 21 3/4 in. (55.3 cm)
D. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
Wt. 137 lbs. (62.1 kg)

Classification: Stone

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1935

Accession Number: 35.120


Incorporating various styles of calligraphic script within its representation of an architectural niche, this tombstone is of historical as well as aesthetic interest. The text of its geometricizing kufic inscriptions include the profession of faith known as the Shahada and passages from the Qur'an. The curvilinear cursive inscriptions provide clues to its history. In the middle framing band are the name and titles of Shaikh Mahmud ibn Sada Muhammad, a leader of a religious brotherhood who "left this world" on the fourth of Muharram 753 / February 21, 1352. The artist’s signature, partly legible as "Niza[m] . . . Shihab," is in the area below the niche.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/449028