A Religious and Economic Stopover in the Middle of Khorasan-e Razavi

Robat-e Sefid/Bazeh Hur is the name of two modern villages giving the name to a valley located in a strategic geographical point traversed by a main north-south caravan road. Archaeological evidence brought to light the meaning of this valley, in which religious and economic aspects show and testify to development of this region during the Sasanian and early Islamic epochs. They highlight its role as a stopover for caravans in the past as today.

“Talking” Tiles from Vanished Ilkhanid Palaces (Late Thirteenth to Early Fourteenth Centuries): Frieze Luster Tiles with Verses from the Shah-nama

Luster tiles in Ilkhanid palace decoration are repeatedly linked with the site of Takht-i Sulaiman (Iran). However, the collection and analysis of ninety-two frieze luster tiles (or frag-ments) characterized by a similar scheme indicates the existence of other palatial locations. Sorting the tiles results in at least eight different friezes. Consequently, possible locations of other Ilkhanid palaces are investigated. Textual contents mainly originate from Firdausi’s Shah-nama. However, the excerpts found on tiles are seldom narrative but allude to the enjoyment of nature, drinking, and beauty. The suitability of these poetic quotes for Ilkha-nid palace decoration is thus further analyzed.

Excavations on the Coral Mosques of the Maldives

This report presents the results of an archaeological mission done in the Maldives archipelago located to the south-west of India, in the Indian Ocean. In November 2017, we carried out archaeological excavations and surveys as well as collected oral traditions on two sites, the Fandiyaaru Mosque and Koagannu Cemetery in Hulhumeeddhoo town on Addu Atoll and the Friday Mosque of Fenfushi on Alifu Dhaalu Atoll. Two outcomes were expected from our mission: first, to provide new scientific data on the coral mosques of the Maldives in order to improve the chances of success of nomination of the mosques on the World Heritage List of UNESCO; then to support the conservation project of the Maldivian government and international organisations such as UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). One major question during our excavation was the continuity of the settlements from pre-Islamic cultures and influences from Buddhist architecture on local Islamic architecture.

Cut-Out Calligraphy from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Discussion of Its Origins and Significance and Observations on the Techniques and Tools Used

Through the study of the materiality of three works from collections in Doha, Paris and Amsterdam, this paper intends to fill a gap in the knowledge of découpage calligraphy in Iran and shed light on its production processes. First, the origins and the context of the art will be explored through ancient and modern sources, followed by an examination of the tools used and the techniques of production, and finally an insight into the purpose or la raison d’être of the découpage technique will be presented.

Alphabets and “Calligraphy” in the Section on Prayers, Special Characteristics of the Quran and Magic Squares in the Inventory of Sultan Bayezid II’s Palace Library

This essay is an attempt to read the section on invocations, prayers, the unique qualities of the Quran and magic squares of the palace library of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (d. 918/1512) along with several works by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bisṭāmī (d. c. 858/1454 or 1455) to cast light on underexamined perceptions of calligraphic styles and alphabets/scripts employed to inscribe talismanic objects and manuscripts. Methodologically, the intention is to situate the inventory of the palace library in the intersection of prescriptive texts, on the one hand, and talismanic objects and manuscripts of invocations, on the other. By taking the inventory as a document of practice, the essay seeks to illustrate the importance of paying attention to other elements of the talismanic compound in general, and to the use of alphabets/scripts with their specific talismanic attributes in particular.

Preconceptions of the Samarra Horizon, Green Splashed Ware and Blue Painted Ware Revisited through Chinese Ceramic Imports (Eighth to Tenth Centuries)

This paper brings in new and not-well-known archaeological evidence to the debate over the Samarra Horizon, and reviews some preconceptions of the green splashed ware and blue painted ware through Chinese ceramic imports found in several sites in the Middle East from the eighth to tenth centuries CE. There has been mutual influence between Islamic and Chinese ceramics in the early Abbasid period, and there may be more than one explanation for their visual similarities.

Flirting with the Radical: Intertextuality, Intervisuality, and Gendered Subversions in Manuscripts of Sūz u Gudāz

This essay focuses on a corpus of eight mid- to late eleventh-/seventeenth-century illustrated manuscripts of the poem Sūz u Gudāz by the poet Nawʿī (d. c. 1019/1610). The text describes the struggle of a Hindu maiden, whose fiancé has died, to commit satī on his funeral pyre despite the interventions of various figures in her life. The essay discusses how later Safavid painters adapted and transformed established pictorial compositions associated with mas̱navīs from the Khamseh (“Quintet”) of Neẓāmī to illustrate Nawʿī’s poem, reflecting its status as a javāb (pointed response) to Neẓāmīan romances. The illustrators often altered the compositional models to draw attention to the gendered dimensions of Nawʿī’s subversive poetics.