Glazed Tiles with Kufic Inscription

Unknown

12th century · Stonepaste; carved, turquoise glaze · Islamic Art

The six tiles composing this frieze entered the collection in 1910 in a different composition: assembled into a panel with three rows of two pieces each, with no regard for the inscriptions—to the point that one was placed upside down. The restorer who had joined them either could not read the Arabic script or assumed that the owner would not be able to do so. In 1975 museum conservators remounted the tiles as a horizontal frieze, a solution that is likely closer to the original format.

Artist

Unknown

Date

12th century

Medium

Stonepaste; carved, turquoise glaze

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Gift of Otto H. Kahn, 1910