This watercolor sketch shows a decorative fragment from the interior of a mausoleum in the northern cluster of shrines at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis (Samarkand, Uzbekistan). The sketch was included in the archeological part of <em>Turkestan Album</em>, a six-volume survey produced in 1871-72, under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general (1867-82) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire's Central Asian territories were called. The album devotes special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Timur (Tamerlane) and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Although the patron of this mausoleum has not been conclusively identified, it was built in 1360-61, most likely for a maiden of noble birth. The collapse of the dome, probably due to an earthquake, enables clear views of the interior. The profuse wall decoration includes faience panels and geometric, floral, and inscriptional patterns in carved, glazed terra-cotta. This fragment shows an inscription in the ornamental cursive Thuluth script. Such sketches conveyed color information unavailable in the photography of that period.
<br>Architectural decorations and ornaments; Inscriptions; Islamic architecture; Sepulchral monuments; Shāh-i Zindah; Tombs; Watercolors
Shostak, L. A.
between 1865 and 1872 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1850-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1865-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1872-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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