Safavid Ceramic Tombstones: Reconstruction of Funerary Practice in 17th Century Iran

Recent publications on Safavid or Shī‘ite material culture have placed great emphasis on the social, cultural and historical contexts of ‘museum’ objects. Accordingly, scholars today, are fully aware of the importance of the Arabic and Persian inscriptions upon them which may reveal ‘historical’ information. However, the lack of focus on tombstone/ceramic texts does not seem to have changed substantially since Sussan Babaie wrongly asserted that “[e]pigraphy in the decorative arts of this period is largely confined to metalwork and textiles” in the ‘Epigraphy iv. Safavid and later inscriptions’ entry of the Encyclopaedia Iranica in 1998. This study focuses on the ceramic tombstones produced between the late Timurid and the late Safavid period, when a limited number of pious Muslims had a privilege to mark their graves with tiles executed in lustre, underglaze, cuerda seca and sgraffito techniques. Particular emphasis will be placed on the content and context of the funerary inscriptions of those dated between A.H. 883 and A.H. 1122, when Persian verses composed by pre-Safavid and Safavid poets gradually replaced Arabic inscriptions such as Qur’ānic verses and the prayer to the Twelve Imāms. A detailed analysis of the content and context of Persian verses may contribute significantly to the study of the reception and circulation of Persian poetry during the Safavid period, and of its patronage by the elite, particularly within the funerary context. Such approach may even help in identifying the production site of ceramic tombstones, as in the case of Mas‘ūd al-Mu‘arrif al-Shīrāzī (A.H. 967)’s tombstone executed in lustre technique; its inscription contains verses specially ordered and composed by Muḥtasham Kāshānī (d. A.H. 996) who never left Kashan, which suggests that this lustre-painted tombstone was produced in Kashan, the foremost centre of lustre production in the Il-khanid period. In addition, the iconography of the tiles executed in underglaze technique and dated between A.H. 1009 and A.H. 1083, namely, the ‘Turban on a Stool’ type, will be discussed in detail in order to analyse this group within the context of Safavid/Islamic funerary practice. Although it was once believed that the tombstones belong to this group had been “a cheaper way of commemorating the deceased”, the social/religious status deducible from the images and inscriptions of ‘turban on a stool’ type tombstones seem to conflict with such notion.