id:			137298
accession number:	1962.23
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.23
updated:		2025-02-09 02:32:59.658000

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

title:				Prayer Niche (Mihrab)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1500s or mid-1900s
creation date earliest:		1500
creation date latest:		1950
current location:		116 Islamic
creditline:			Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer
copyright:			

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culture:	Iran, Isfahan, in the style of the Safavid period (1501–1722)
technique:	ceramic mosaic
department:	Islamic Art
collection:	Islamic Art
type:		Ceramic
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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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.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


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:

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.
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review - 1962
	opening date:   1962-10-24T04:00:00
	<i>Year in Review - 1962</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	(Khalil Rabenou [1902-1961], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and purchased with funds from Katharine Holden Thayer)
	date: ?-1962
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1962-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art, “Prayer Niche, 1962.23,” press release, May 7, 1962
	page number: 	
	url:		https://archive.org/details/cmapr0942

	Shepherd, Dorothy G. “A Miḥrāb and Frieze: In Faience Tile from Iran.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 49, no. 8, 1962, pp. 179–185.
	page number: 	Mentioned: pp. 179–185; Reproduced: cover, figs. 2, 3, and 5
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151909

	Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review 1962.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 49, no. 9, 1962, pp. 199–227.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 227, no. 149
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151915

	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

	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

	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

	Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. <em>World Art Transparencies</em>. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998.
	page number: 	Acetate 15
	url:		

	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:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.23/1962.23_full.tif