Chagatayid or Timurid cenotaph

This is an example of a cenotaph, a funerary monument raised over a grave to honour the memory of a deceased. There are many different examples of tombstones in the Islamic world, each region’s carvers having developed their own style and artistic features, which often follows the architectural context as well as the available materials. Built as a three steps monument, this cenotaph is covered with turquoise and cobalt blue glazed tiles decorated with interlaced designs of palmettes and with Persian poetry in thuluth script that mourn the deceased. The tiles are characteristic of architectural craftsmanship of Central Asia in the 8th century AH / 14th century CE, especially the city of Khiva in today’s Uzbekistan. A similar cenotaph decorates the upper part of a large burial structure in the mausoleum of Sayyid ‘Ala’ al-Din in Khiva (702 AH/1303 CE), a famous member of the Naqsbandhi Sufi order.