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Plate with Design of Arabic Inscription in Kufic Script
Saint Louis, United States of America
Saint Louis Art Museum
About Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis
Hegira Late 2nd to late 4th / AD 10th century
283:1951
Glazed and slip-painted earthenware
Length: 4.4cm x Width: 37.8cm
Seljuq
Nishapur, Khorasan, Iran, Asia
A shallow earthenware plate with inscription in dark brown slip over white slip background and a transparent glaze. The Arabic inscription in Kufic script serves as the main decoration; its elongated horizontal bars and ligatures form a border along the circumference of the plate while the sharply pointed vertical staffs extend towards the central depression to form a radiating design. Translated, the inscription reads "Planning before work protects you from regret! K..." There are many scratches and repaired cracks. At several spots along the edge, the white slip has chipped away, exposing the pinkish buff earthenware.
Scholarly review and/or comparison to similar objects from the period.
Museum Purchase, 1951
Scholarly review and/or comparison to similar objects from the period.
Bloom, Jonathan and Blair, Shelia, God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth: Light in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015.
Speight, Charlotte F. and Toki, John, Hands in Clay, Mountain View, CA; London / Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1999.
"Plate with Design of Arabic Inscription in Kufic Script" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus24;16;en
MWNF Working Number: US4 16
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