63 / 76
2 6 /1 9 7 6 K e n o ta f
A n a to lie n ca. 1340
V a ln ø d . H :5 0 & 3 6 ,5 , B :3 5 & 30, L :1 3 9
E f te r m a n g e års o m f la k k e n h a r d e n o v e r fo r a fb il
d e d e k e n o ta f (ta b u t) n u f u n d e t sin b liv e n d e p la d s i
D a v id s S a m lin g . D e n h a r o p r in d e lig s tå e t p å e n
lig e så r ig t u d s k å re t, k a s s e fo rm e t u n d e r d e l (sa n -
d u q ) o g s ta m m e r fra M a h m u d K a ir a n i’s m a u s o le
u m i A k s h e h ir n æ r K o n y a . P å f o to g r a f ie r ta g e t fø r
å r 1900 ses v o r ta b u t e n d n u p å sin s a n d u q i m a u s o
le e t s a m m e n m e d to a n d re a f s a m m e a rt. D is s e e r i
d a g i M u s e e t fo r ty r k is k o g is la m is k K u n s t i Is ta n
b u l tillig e m e d d e n til v o r ta b u t h ø r e n d e s a n d u q .
D e n n e b æ r e r n a v n e t S a y y id i A li b . M u h a m m a d b .
M a h m u d m e n in g e n d a to . S a y y id i A li d ø d e im id
le r tid o m k r in g 1340, h v ilk e t sy n e s at v æ re e n ri
m e lig d a te rin g a f k e n o ta fe n . D e to a n d re k e n o ta
fe r, s o m m in d e r m e g e t o m v o r , e r d a te r e t 6 4 9 o g
66 7 a .h ., a ltså o m k r in g 90 å r fø r, m e n o m v o r
ta b u t e r u d f ø r t i e n b e v id s t a rk a is e re n d e stil, e lle r
o m d e to a n d re s n a re re k a n h e n fø re s til tid é n o m
k r in g 1340 e fte r v o r tid s r e g n in g fa r in d til v id e re
stå h e n i d e t u v isse .
D e n s p id s g a v le d e ta b u t e r o v e ra lt d æ k k e t a f e n
o v e r d å d ig p la n te o rn a m e n tik i h ø jt re lie f, o g in d
im e lle m d e n n e , d e r b e s tå r a f v in lø v s - o g lo tu s a r a -
b e s k e r, s n o r sig a ra b is k e s e n te n s e r s k å re t i n a s k h i-
o g th u lu th s k r if t. A lle h a r d e m e d d ø d e n o g liv e t
e fte r d e n n e a t g ø re . E n a f d e m ly d e r: » G ra v e n e r
e n p o r t, o g fo lk e n e m ø d e s d e r« .
26/1976 Cenotaph
Anatolia ca. 1340
Walnut. H:50 & 36.5, W:35 & 30, L:139
After wandering aboutfor many years the cenotaph (ta.-
but,)
illustrated on the opposite page hasfound aperma
nent resting-place in the David Collection. It has orig
inally stood on an equally richly carved, box-shaped
lower section
(s a n d u q )
and stems from Mahmud
Kairani’s mausoleum in Akshehir near Konya. On
photographs taken before the year 1900 our
ta b u t
can
be seen still on its
s a n d u q
in the mausoleum together
with two others of the same kind. These are now in the
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul along
with the
s a n d u q
that belonged to our
ta b u t.
This bears
the name Sayyidi Ali b. Muhammad b. Mahmud but
no date. However, Sayyidi Ali died around 1340,
which would seem to be a reasonable date for the
cenotaph. The two other cenotaphs that resemble ours
are dated 649 and 661 AH, in other words about 90
years earlier, but whether our
ta b u t
was executed in a
deliberately archaized style or whether the two others
can rather be ascribed to the time around 1340 AD must
for the moment be left open to conjecture.
The pointed gable
ta b u t
is covered all over by sump
tuous plant ornamentation in high relief, and in between
this, which consists of vineleaf and lotus arabesques,
wind sentences carved in the Naskhi and Thuluth al
phabets. They are all concerned with death and life after
death. One of them reads: “The grave is agateway and
people meet there. ”
60