Prayer Niche (Mihrab)

c. 1500s or mid-1900s

Maker Unknown

Islamic Art

Prayer Niche (Mihrab), c. 1500s or mid-1900s. Iran, Isfahan, in the style of the Safavid period (1501–1722). Ceramic mosaic; mihrab: 290.7 x 245.3 cm (114 7/16 x 96 9/16 in.); frieze: 69.2 x 1563.5 cm (27 1/4 x 615 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer 1962.23 Every mihrab is oriented toward Mecca.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Ceramic
Formatted Medium: ceramic mosaic
Medium: ceramic, mosaic
Dimensions: Mihrab: 290.7 x 245.3 cm (114 7/16 x 96 9/16 in.); Frieze: 69.2 x 1563.5 cm (27 1/4 x 615 9/16 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: The inscriptions on the mihrab and frieze are from the Qur'an. On the frieze are written the first 30 verses from the Chapter of the Dawn (89). The inscription on the mihrab is from the Chapter of Light (24: 35-36) and translates: God is the light of the Heavens and the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp---the lamp enclosed in glass---the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree it is lighted, the olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would well neigh shine out, even though fire touched it not! It is light upon light. God guideth whom He will to His light, and God setteth forth parables to men, for God knoweth.