DavidsSamlingGennem24År

26/1976 Cenotaph Anatolia ca. 1340 Walnut. H:50 & 36.5, W:35 & 30, L:139

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

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. ”

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« .

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