Tile from an Inscriptional Frieze

Two tiles from a mihrab (40.181.5 and .6)

These two tiles come from the mihrab of a building now known as the Imämzädah 'Alî ibn Ja'far in Qum, which is actually a tomb of two shi'ite saints: 'Alï, the son of the sixth imam Ja'far al-Sädiq, and Muhammad, the son of the seventh imam Musä al-Käzim and nephew of 'Alï. This mihrab is now in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran; the first five tiles of the inscriptional frieze surrounding this mihrab are a modern replacement, according to photographs taken in the 1930s in which they are missing. The mihrab bears the date A.H. 734 / A.D. 1334 and the signature by Yusuf ibn 'Ali Muhammad ibn Abï Tâhir, a member of the fourth and last generation of a well-known family of potters from Kashan. Six works, including this mihrab, are known to be by Yüsuf and their dates span the years from A.D. 705 to 734 / A.D. 1305 to 1334. Indeed, these two tiles are examples of the last stage in the production of luster tiles from Kashan: the decorations of the upper field and the background of the main field follow typical decorative treatments of Kashan pottery, but they lack the precision and care in drawing as apparent in earlier tiles. The inscriptions of the two tiles containing the second half of the basmalav "the Clement, the Merciful" and Qur'an 7:54, indicate that 40.181.5 is the second tile, and that 40.181.6 is the fifth of the original five now missing from the mihrab in the Iran Bastan Museum. The remaining three have not yet been recorded in the literature.

[Carboni and Masuya 1993]

Signature: Signed: Yusuf ibn 'Ali Muhammad ibn Abi Tahir (a potter from Kashan)

Inscription: In Arabic in thuluth script: and the earth, in six d[ays] (Qur'an sura 7, verse 54)

Mihrab of Imamzada 'Ali ibn Ja'far mausoleum, Qum, Iran (from 1334); H. O. Havemeyer Collection, New York (by 1931–40; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ceramic Art of the Near East," May 12–June 23, 1931, no. 77.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, pl. 112.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery. "Persian Tiles," May 4, 1993–January 2, 1994, no. 23.

Dimand, Maurice S. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 12–June 28, 1931." In Ceramic Art of the Near East. New York, 1931. no. 77, p. 19.

Watson, Oliver. Persian Lustre Ware. London; Boston: Faber and Faber, 1985. no 123, p. 196, Appendix III, ill. fig. 120.

Carboni, Stefano, and Tomoko Masuya. Persian Tiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 23, p. 28, ill. (b/w).

Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. p. 121, ill. pl. 112 (color).