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Antiquities of Samarkand. Tomb of the Saint Kusam-ibn-Abbas (Shah-i Zindah) and Adjacent Mausoleums. Mausoleum of Sha Arap. Section of Column (Pillar)

1865
This sketch of a facade fragment of an unidentified mausoleum in the northern cluster of shrines at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis (Samarkand, Uzbekistan) is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871-72, under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general (1867-82) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire's Central Asian territories were called. The album devotes special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Timur (Tamerlane) and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Although the patron of this mausoleum has not been conclusively identified, its date of construction is known to be 1360-61. The mausoleum facade is distinguished by its vibrant ceramic ornamentation. The facade arch, or peshtak, is flanked by glazed terra-cotta columns carved in geometric patterns. This sketch shows a column shaft with hexagonal “cells” containing a symmetrical foliate pattern of six components and a six-pointed star in the center. Although simplified, these watercolors conveyed color information unavailable in the photography of that period.

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Filename
3912.jpg
Copyright
acku Afghanistan
Image Size
1800x2265 / 157.6KB
Contained in galleries
UZBEKISTAN
1865<br /> This sketch of a facade fragment of an unidentified mausoleum in the northern cluster of shrines at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis (Samarkand, Uzbekistan) is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871-72, under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general (1867-82) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire's Central Asian territories were called. The album devotes special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Timur (Tamerlane) and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Although the patron of this mausoleum has not been conclusively identified, its date of construction is known to be 1360-61. The mausoleum facade is distinguished by its vibrant ceramic ornamentation. The facade arch, or peshtak, is flanked by glazed terra-cotta columns carved in geometric patterns. This sketch shows a column shaft with hexagonal “cells” containing a symmetrical foliate pattern of six components and a six-pointed star in the center. Although simplified, these watercolors conveyed color information unavailable in the photography of that period.