Tombstone thumbnail 1
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Not currently on display at the V&A

Tombstone

984-985 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Cordoba (made)

Small marble tombstone with inscription in kufic script


Object details

Category
Islam
Object type
Tombstone
Materials and techniques
Carved marble
Brief description
Sculpture; marble, Cordoba, dated 984-5
Physical description
Small marble tombstone with inscription in kufic script
Dimensions
  • Height: 27.5cm
  • Width: 20cm
Styles
Umayyad
Moorish
Marks and inscriptions
  • بسم الـلّه الرحمن الرحيم هذا قبر جمعة بن فتوح بن محمد العامريّ توفي ر حمه الـله ليلة الأربعاء لتـ[ـسع بقيـ]ـن من جمادى الآ خرة سنة أربع و سبعين وثلث مائة غفر الـلّه لـه (The Arabic inscription was read in March 2014 by Carmen Barceló of the University of Valencia, while she was studying this object for her article published in the Journal of Islamic Archaeology (see References). The year 374 in the Hijra (Islamic) calendar equates to 985 CE. )
    Translation
    In the name of God, Merciful and Forgiving. This is the tomb of Jumʿa bn F.tūḥ son of Muḥammad al-ʿĀmirī. He died, may God have mer- cy on him, on Wednesday eve at ni[ne (nights) from] Jumādā the la- st of the year 374. May God forgive him!
    Transliteration
    bismillāh al-raḥmāni -l-raḥīm / hādhā qabr jum‘at ibn f.tūḥ b. / muḥammadini -l-‘āmirī tuwuffiya ra/ḥima-hu -llāh laylata -l-arbi‘ā’ / li-ti[s‘ baqī]na min jumādā -l-ā/khira sanat arba‘ wa-sab‘īna / wa-thalāth mi’ah ghafara -llāh la-hu.
  • Transliteration
Credit line
Given by Dr W.L. Hildburgh FSA
Object history
Reused as a socket for a door post, possibly following the outbreak of civil war c. 1010 and the subsequent looting of Madinat al-Zahra. Found in Córdoba, laid as a brick in a wall, following a second phase of spoilation and re-use. (M. Rosser-Owen 2010).

A label on the back of the tombstone written by Dr W.L. Hildburgh himself reads: "Small marble slab with Kufic inscription. When [dis]covered by vendor, it was bui[lt horizon]tally into a wall, in [the mann]ner of a flat brick, with [...] one edge showing, It appears at one time to have been used as a door-base. Cordova, '16."

This indicates that Hildburgh bought this tombstone in Cordoba in 1916, probably from an antiques dealer, but sadly gives no other provenance for where this tombstone was found.
Bibliographic references
  • M. Rosser-Owen. Islamic Arts from Spain (V&A Publishing, London: 2010)
  • Carmen Barceló, "Epitaph of an ʿĀmirī (Cordova 374 H /985 CE)", Journal of Islamic Archaeology 1.2 (2014), pp. 121–142
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
A.92-1921

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O448976/tombstone-unknown/
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