Antiquities of Samarkand. Tomb of the Saint Kusam-ibn-Abbas (Shah-i Zindah) and Adjacent Mausoleums. Mausoleum of Sha Arap. Section of Inscription on the Facade
1865
This watercolor 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 polychrome ceramic ornamentation. The facade arch, or peshtak, is flanked by glazed terra-cotta columns and vertical decorative bands. The strip shown here forms the left outside corner of the arch niche. It consists of a Kufic inscription intertwined with strapwork and floral motifs. The section curve at the bottom of the sketch indicates that the strip is a concave surface.
- Filename
- 3913.jpg
- Copyright
- acku Afghanistan
- Image Size
- 1800x2271 / 138.4KB
- Contained in galleries
- UZBEKISTAN