It is quite a long time that I do not read and post an inscription. Well, not that long: let’s say one month or so… but I missed it. Today I woke up and said: ‘Today I have to read a gravestone’: and here we are. Alabaster gravestones from 10th century Nishapur are not that…
Tag: funerary inscriptions
Formulaic insiptions: the gravestone of Fudayl ibn Musa, Nishapur, 10th century
Iranian gravestones are something special. Displaying wonderfully carved inscriptions and decoration, they can be read on various levels: decorative, textual and symbolic. In the case of a gravestone from 10th century Nishapur it was exactly what emerged from the analysis. Just a case? I believe it’s not.
May God give light to him: a tombstone from 10th century Iran
I love tombstones… that’s something creepy and well known: I realised that the majority of inscriptions I publish here are from tombstones, but that’s it. Tombstones are not only beautiful, but also a fertile source of information. Some Iranian tombstones, for instance, can be used to trace the history of craftsmen, or to better understand…
Signatures on gravestones: two XII century Iranian tombstones
Tombstones are full of surprises, and information: not only on the poor passed away, but also on the iconography, the use of Qur’anic citation, place and time, people, craftsmanship, patronage, religion, public and private sphere…in short: from a tombstone, if you are careful, you can get a whole context. Let’s take this one for instance