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Tile with Niche Design

12th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 454
The original use of this panel is unknown, although the Qur'anic content of its inscription suggests a devotional meaning. The arches and columns reflect regional architectural forms. Similar panels had different functions—depending on their context and inscriptional content—as mihrabs (prayer niches), sometimes recording an event, pious gifts, or funerary elements, or commemorating the construction of all or part of a building.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tile with Niche Design
  • Date: 12th century
  • Geography: Attributed to Jazira
  • Medium: Stonepaste; molded, glazed in transparent turquoise
  • Dimensions: H. 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm)
    W. 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm)
    D. 1 in. (2.5 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Tiles
  • Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
  • Object Number: 30.95.184
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

More Artwork

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Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes, Stonepaste; openwork, underglaze-painted, glazed in transparent turquoise
Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes
dated 612 AH/1215–16 CE
Mihrab (Prayer Niche), Mosaic of polychrome-glazed cut tiles on stonepaste body; set into mortar
Mihrab (Prayer Niche)
dated 755 AH/1354–55 CE
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience, Stonepaste; glazed (opaque monochrome), in-glaze- and overglaze-painted, gilded
Turquoise Bowl with Lute Player and Audience
late 12th–early 13th century
Crescent-Shaped Pendant with Confronted Birds, Gold, cloisonné enamel, turquoise; filigree
Crescent-Shaped Pendant with Confronted Birds
11th century
Pyxis (Cylindrical Container), Stonepaste; luster-painted on incised, opaque white glaze
Pyxis (Cylindrical Container)
late 11th–early 12th century

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