{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O85138"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85138/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CE2201/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CE2201/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CE2201","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN0497","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KJ6969","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O85138/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O85138","accessionNumber":"1527-1876","objectType":"Tile","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This tile represents a mihrab, the niche in a mosque that indicates the qiblah, the direction in which to pray. The lamp  shown hanging in the mihrab associates the tile with a burial. In tombs, the presence of a mihrab indicated that the corpse was correctly aligned with the qiblah when it was buried. This means that the deceased will rise facing the qiblah when they are resurrected on the Day of Judgement. \r\n\r\nIt is thought that this tile and another, very similar piece in the V&A's collection (C.1977-1910) formed a pair that were placed at either end of a large, rectangular tomb marker in a grand tomb. Other tiles would have covered the top and sides of the marker. \r\n\r\nTiles of this type with lustre decoration were produced in Iran between 1200 and 1340 and were used to decorate palaces, mosques and shrines. They were produced by families whose work can be traced over several generations, and this example was made by a man called 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn Abi'l-Hasan, who is known to have worked in the early 1300s.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":"'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn Abi'l-Hasan signed the inscription in lustre pigment that runs around the hood of the niche."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2009CE2201","2015HN0497","2017KJ6969"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"144","id":"THES49866"},"free":"","case":"EXP","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Tile","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Kashan","id":"x30242"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Iran","id":"x30220"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"circa 1305","earliest":"1300-01-01","latest":"1309-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"The dating is based on the set of four tiles that once covered the tomb marker in the shrine of Imamzadah Yahya in Varamin, Iran, and are now in the State Hermitage in St Petersburg. These tiles were signed by 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn 'Ali and another master, Yusuf ibn 'Ali ibn Muhammad, and Yusuf's work is dated 10 Muharram 705, equivalent to 2 August 1305."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"63.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"46","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"6.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"converted from Imperial in register","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Tile with moulded decoration in the form of a mihrab surrounded by a wide frame filled with an Arabic inscription, fritware under a tin glaze, with blue and turquoise painted into the glaze and lustre painted over the glaze, Iran, about 1305.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>The Arts of Islam</i>, exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, London, 1976, published London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976, p.254, no. 375."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"H. Wallis, <i>Persian Ceramic Art in the Collection of F. Ducane Godman F.R.S.</i>, II <i>The Thirteenth Century Lustre Wall-Tiles</i>, London, 1894, pl. XVI"},{"reference":{"text":"Watson, Oliver. Persian Lustre Ware. London: Faber and Faber, 1985.","id":"AUTH407108"},"details":"Pl. 125, pp. 122, 149, 179","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Tomb-marker\r\nIran, probably Kashan, about 1300\r\nTin-glazed fritware, moulded and painted in colour, with lustre over the glaze","date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["1527-1876"],"accessionNumberNum":"1527","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1876,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP4451","2019LU9283","2019LU0418","2019LU0051","2019LW6249"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2003-11-04","availableToBook":false}}