{"data": {"id": 137298, "accession_number": "1962.23", "share_license_status": "CC0", "tombstone": "Prayer Niche (Mihrab), c. 1500s or mid-1900s. Iran, Isfahan, in the style of the Safavid period (1501\u20131722). 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", "current_location": "116 Islamic", "title": "Prayer Niche (Mihrab)", "creation_date": "c. 1500s or mid-1900s", "creation_date_earliest": 1500, "creation_date_latest": 1950, "artists_tags": [], "culture": ["Iran, Isfahan, in the style of the Safavid period (1501\u20131722)"], "technique": "ceramic mosaic", "support_materials": [], "department": "Islamic Art", "collection": "Islamic Art", "type": "Ceramic", "measurements": "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.)", "dimensions": {"mihrab": {"height": 2.907, "height_inch": 114, "height_inch_fraction": 0.4375, "width": 2.453, "width_inch": 96, "width_inch_fraction": 0.5625}, "frieze": {"height": 0.692, "height_inch": 27, "height_inch_fraction": 0.25, "width": 15.635, "width_inch": 615, "width_inch_fraction": 0.5625}}, "state_of_the_work": null, "edition_of_the_work": null, "copyright": null, "inscriptions": [{"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:\n\nGod is the light of the Heavens and the Earth.\nHis Light is like a niche in which is a lamp---the\nlamp enclosed in glass---the glass, as it were, a glistening star.  From a blessed tree it is lighted,\nthe olive neither of the East nor of the West, \nwhose oil would well neigh shine out, even though fire touched it not!  It is light upon light.\nGod guideth whom He will to His light, and God\nsetteth forth parables to men, for God knoweth.", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}], "exhibitions": {"current": [{"id": 302276, "title": "Year in Review - 1962", "description": "<i>Year in Review - 1962</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).", "opening_date": "1962-10-24T04:00:00"}], "legacy": []}, "provenance": [{"description": "(Khalil Rabenou [1902\u20131961], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and purchased with funds from Katharine Holden Thayer [1898\u20131985])", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "?\u20131962", "sortorder": 1}, {"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH", "citations": [], "footnotes": [], "date": "1962\u2013", "sortorder": 2}], "find_spot": null, "related_works": [], "former_accession_numbers": [], "did_you_know": "Every mihrab is oriented toward Mecca.", "early_education_description": null, "artlens_description": null, "description": "The prayer niche (or <em>mihrab</em> in Arabic) is the focal point in the interior of a mosque, located in the <em>qibla</em> wall that faces Mecca, the holy city of Islam. Verses from the holy Qur\u2019an, written in a form of Arabic script called <em>thuluth</em>, surround the mihrab. The inscription is rendered with white glaze, while the continuous arabesque vine behind the Qur\u2019anic text is executed in gold, turquoise, and green\u2014the color of the Prophet Muhammad and of paradise.<br> <br>The inscription is from the Chapter of Light (<em>Surah An-Nur</em>): \u201cAllah is the light of the Heavens and the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp\u2014the lamp enclosed in glass\u2014the glass, as it were, a glistening star; lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow, even though fire touched it not. Light upon light! Allah guides whom He will to His light, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah knows all things.\u201d <br><br>The artistic and calligraphic styles suggest this mihrab was made about 1500, but the physical appearance of the ceramic mosaic pieces does not. The glaze colors are too consistent, and they have not discolored from moisture seeping behind the cut tile edges. Clay substrates of the tiles were tested in 2001 using thermoluminescence to determine the date the tiles were fired. The results indicated that the tiles were modern, made between 1941 and 1961, and they are under further examination.", "external_resources": {"wikidata": ["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60746418"], "internet_archive": ["https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1962.23-prayer-niche-mihrab"]}, "citations": [{"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cPrayer Niche, 1962.23,\u201d press release, May 7, 1962", "page_number": null, "url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr0942"}, {"citation": "Shepherd, Dorothy G. \u201cA Mi\u1e25r\u0101b and Frieze: In Faience Tile from Iran.\u201d <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 49, no. 8, 1962, pp. 179\u2013185.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 179\u2013185; Reproduced: cover, figs. 2, 3, and 5", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151909"}, {"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \u201cYear in Review 1962.\u201d <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 49, no. 9, 1962, pp. 199\u2013227.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 227, no. 149", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151915"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 212", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n236"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 212", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n236"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 268", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n288"}, {"citation": "Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. <em>World Art Transparencies</em>. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998.", "page_number": "Acetate 15", "url": null}, {"citation": "\u201cA Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.\u201d <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8\u201333.", "page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 11", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"}, {"citation": "Masteller, Kimberly. \"Arthur Upham Pope and Collecting Persian Art for Kansas City.\" In <em>Arthur Upham Pope and a New Survey of Persian Art. </em>Yuka Kadoi, ed., 282. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 282, no. 41", "url": null}], "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.23", "images": {"annotation": null, "web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_web.jpg", "width": "766", "height": "900", "filesize": "612833", "filename": "1962.23_web.jpg"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_print.jpg", "width": "2893", "height": "3400", "filesize": "5192030", "filename": "1962.23_print.jpg"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_full.tif", "width": "3376", "height": "3968", "filesize": "40221112", "filename": "1962.23_full.tif"}}, "alternate_images": [], "creditline": "Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer", "image_credit": null, "sketchfab_id": null, "sketchfab_url": null, "gallery_donor_text": null, "athena_id": 137298, "creators": [], "legal_status": "accessioned", "accession_date": "1962-02-17T00:00:00", "sortable_date": 1500, "date_added_to_oa": null, "date_text": "c. 1500s or mid-1900s", "collapse_artists": false, "on_loan": false, "recently_acquired": false, "record_type": "object", "conservation_statement": "In the ceramic mosaic technique, the design is formed of individual pieces of tile. The segments are cut according to the pattern from monochrome tiles with a chisel and their edges smoothed with a file. The pieces are then arranged, face down, according to the pattern and covered with plaster in manageable sections. Since colorful ceramic mosaics decorate numerous old buildings in Iran, modern craftsmen have become skilled in their repair, and occasionally in recreating mihrabs in a historical style.", "has_conservation_images": false, "cover_accession_number": null, "is_nazi_era_provenance": false, "impression": null, "alternate_titles": ["Mihrab and Frieze"], "is_highlight": false, "updated_at": "2026-07-24 11:49:02.017000"}}