Ivory Plaque with Qur'anic Inscription

Description The Qur'anic inscription carved in thuluth script is from "Surat al-dahr" (The time), 76:12-13: "And because they were patient, He will reward them with paradise and silken robes. Reclining on couches, they will see neither the heat of the sun nor the cold of the moon." This finely carved plaque is believed to be from the tomb of the Iranian ruler Shah Isma'il I (r. 1501-24). Shah Isma'il founded the Safavid dynasty in Iran in 1501 and is buried at Ardabil, in northwestern Iran.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
9/01/2001	Treatment	cleaned

Exhibitions

• Poetry and Prayer: Islamic Manuscripts from the Walters Art Museum. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2010.
• Paradise Imagined: Images of the Garden in the Islamic and Christian World. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2012.

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Translation] From Qur'an 76:12-13: And because they were patient, He will reward them with paradise and silken robes. Reclining on couches, they will see neither the heat of the sun nor the cold of the moon.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911