Carved Marble Mihrab Panel

This marble panel could have once been part of a prayer room or a mausoleum and was used as a mihrab to indicate the qibla, the direction to Mecca. It is carved with a central niche composed of a rectangle in which is featured a lamp hanging from an arch and inscribed with the word Allah on its body. Two Qur’anic verses inscribed in thuluth script around the central niche praise the omniscient power, knowledge, justice and wisdom of God and state Islam as Allah’s religion. The frieze on the upper part is decorated with floral stylised motifs. The overall composition recalls larger stucco mihrabs in Seljuq or Ilkhanid buildings, such as that of Pir-i Bakran’s mausoleum’s mihrab. This smaller version may indicate its use in a small oratory, possibly in a madrasa, a small masjid or even a mausoleum. The representation of the lamp is quite common and is a symbol of God’s radiance, as stated in a famous verse of the Qur’an (Q 24:35), where God’s light is metaphorically compared to a niche where a crystal lamp shines like a star that is lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree that wouldn’t require fire to be lit.