Plaque

Description This plaque was probably originally set into a piece of furniture in a madrasa, or theological college, built by Sultan Qaitbay (1467-1496), ruler of the Mamluk Dynasty and an active patron of the arts. The inscription in "thuluth" script is an invocation based on two verses of the Qur'an (from "sura," or chapter, 74). It reads: "Night and day have mixed in the enjoyment of it."

Exhibitions

• Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World. Asia House Gallery, New York; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis. 1979.
• Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Yeshiva University Museum, New York. 2013-2014.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Inscription] Night and day have mixed in the enjoyment of it.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters