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Tile within partial verse about The Godly Month (Ramadan)

Tile within partial verse about The Godly Month (Ramadan)

13th century

The graceful cobalt blue inscription, set against intricate metallic luster-glaze foliage on a white ground, formed part of a much longer inscription around a mihrab or in a shrine or palace. The writing references Ramadan, observed over the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. This holy period is a time of physical and spiritual purification, including fasting during daylight hours, praying and reading the Qur’an together at the mosque, and quiet contemplation.
Stonepaste; molded and in-glaze painted in blue and turquoise and luster-painted on opaque white glaze
14 1/4 x 13 5/8 x 3/4 in. (36.2 x 34.61 x 1.91 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
36.51
Provenance: [S. Franses, London]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum (Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection), January 8, 1936
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio. Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World, May 31 - October 5, 2014 (Denver Museum of Nature and Science, November 29, 2014 - May 3, 2015; exhibition was organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, although this work was not shown there)
Published ReferencesPope, Arthur Upham. Masterpieces of Persian Art. New York: The Dryden Press, 1945. Pl. 80, reproduced p. 116.

Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections. Seattle, Wash.: Seattle Art Museum, 1951. P. 18.

Rome, Palazzo Brancaccio, Mostra d'arte Iranica/Exhibition of Iranian Art, 1956. Pl. LVIII.

Nakai, Ghods. 7000 Ans d'Art en Iran Exposition. Oct. 1961-Jan. 1962. Cat. no. 995, p. 181, reproduced pl. CXIII.

Rogers, Millard B. Engagement Book: Iranian Art in the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, Wash.: Seattle Art Museum, 1973. Fig. 35.

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