Three fragments from a scheme of ceramic decoration for a mihrab, made from earthenware tiles covered with turquoise and purple glaze and cut to shape (tile mosaic), Turkey, probably Konya, 13th century.

Three fragments from a scheme of ceramic decoration for a mihrab, from the Beyhekim Mosque in Konya, Turkey, removed to the Museum für islamische Kunst, Berlin (I.7193). The decoration was created from earthenware tiles covered with turquoise and black glazes, cut to shape and fitted together (tile mosaic). The fragments come from the outer frame that surrounds the mihrab on three sides. They include two small fragments of an inscription in a highly mannered form of the Arabic script (342- and 342b-1906). This inscription consists of the Throne Verse from the surah al-Baqarahof the Qur’an (II, 255), and one of the fragments contains the word يشفع (342-1906). At the upper right and left corners the inscription is interrupted by two complex geometric figures, one of which is found on 342a-1906. Outside the inscription band runs another with a formal repeating pattern composed of stylized elements derived from a vine scroll (palmettes and half-palmettes), and outside that is a solid black band (342 and 342a-1906).

These fragments were bought, together with 343- to 357-1906, from "F.R. Martin Esq, Swedish Legation" (sc. in Istanbul) for £228.
E.A. Lane added the following notes in the register for the former Department of Ceramics and Glass at the V&A:
-- From a mihrab in the Bey Hekim Mosque at Konia. (Lane, E.A.: Guide to the Tiles. V&A. 1939. p.9).
-- The mihrab in complete condition, except for the fragment in the top left corner, is illustrated by F. Sarre, Seldschukische Kleinkunst (Leipzig 1909), p. 45, fig. 35.
-- When I visited Konya in Sept 1951 the mosque was closed and disused, all remains of tilework having been removed to the Museum in a room in the shrine of the Mevlânâ Celâleddin Rumî -- E.A.L.
-- These tiles were removed from Konya in the early years of this century and sold through a shop in Istanbul to us, Paris* and Berlin. Berlin has the greater part of the mihrab. See Erdman[n], K. Neue Arbeiten zur Tükischen Keramik. Ars Orientalis, V. 1963. p. 194 + Note 11.

* A fragment is now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, having been transferred from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (29770). This is a section of the horizontal inscription above the hood of the mihrab (= part of verse 45 of surah XXIX, al-'Ankabut). See Rémy Labrusse, ed., Purs Décors? Arts de l'Islam, regards du XIXe siècle. Collections des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2007, p. 117, no. 52.

342 to B-1906