Tiled Niche, between 1848 and 1888

  • Ustad Mahammad Husayn, Islamic, Iranian

Underglaze painted fritware

  • Overall: 65 × 42 × 3 5/8 inches (165.1 × 106.7 × 9.2 cm) Including base (mount): 68 1/4 × 44 1/2 × 4 3/8 inches (173.4 × 113 × 11.1 cm) Overall (opening): 23 × 15 inches (58.4 × 38.1 cm)

Gift of Mrs. Wilson W. Mills

54.194

Inscribed, poem, top of lower panel: [translated: What happened in the heat of exchange at the bazaar Where everyone from anywhere was buying Egyptians I heard that from missing him The days all have become disturbed Someone very handsome came toward the bazaar It is enough that we should all be his purchaser.] Inscribed: [translated: It was completed in the esteemed workshop, of the honorable work of ustadh (master) Muhammad Husayn, kashi-paz (tile maker/potter), in the year one thousand two...] [date incomplete]

acquired from the Qajar Shah of Iran, Nasr al-Din Shah in (Carlsbad, Germany)

1888, possibly aquired by Hazen S. Pingree (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

by 1919, by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Sheman L. Depew [later Mrs. Wilson W. Mills]

1954-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Bulletin of the DIA 1, no. 1 (1919): pp. 8-10, p. 9 (ill.) [as 13th century]. "Family Art Game: Celebrations," The Detroit Free Press (May 17, 1987): p. 28 (ill.) [DIA Advertising Supplement]. "Family Art Game: Visions and Rhythms," The Detroit Free Press (April 23, 1995): p. 10 (ill. detail) [DIA Advertising Supplement].

workshop of Ustad Mahammad Husayn, Islamic, Tiled Niche, between 1848 and 1888, underglaze painted fritware. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Wilson W. Mills, 54.194.