Among the earliest major finds of the excavations in Nishapur was a building complex that included a domed inner room; a vaulted hall, or iwan; and the courtyard onto which it opened. The lower walls of these areas were decorated with carved and painted stucco dadoes of lively and beautiful design, and at least some of the upper walls were polychrome-painted on a smooth whitewash coating over walls of mud mixed with straw. The Museum's set is arranged in approximately the original positioning.

The peculiar plan seems to suggest that the inner domed room and our iwan were once a long hall and that, at some point prior to the application of our present decoration, a transverse wall was constructed which bisected the original south wall, creating the two smaller rooms. The fact that a mihrab, or prayer niche, was constructed in the corner of each room, hard up against this inserted wall (even, in the case of iwan, cut into the wall), suggests that there was originally one larger niche in the center of that wall, and that the two subsequent niches shared its depression. The fact that the orientation toward Mecca of both niches as well as the thick qibla wall is off by several degrees is not unusual for early Islamic buildings. Although the niches showing the direction of prayer are clear indications of a religious usage, it is uncertain whether the building was a private residence, a small neighborhood masjid ("place of prostration," i.e., prayer), or perhaps even a small madrasa (religious school).

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