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Brown copper dish with Qur’anic inscription and human-faced fish

Script from the Qur’an is engraved on the rim of a round, circular brown copper dish. The center of the dish is slightly indented in a shallow surface, depicting the curved bodies of human-faced fish surrounding a central floral design. The fish are surrounded by elaborate floral designs, enclosed by a thin light circle. On the edge of the circle is a pattern of pointed shapes touching the edge of the bottom of the dish.

Gallery Text

Boldly inscribed around the rim of this dish is the Throne Verse, one of the best-known passages in the Qurʾan, which is Islam’s most sacred text. The verse asserts God’s dominion over heaven and earth and, if recited after prayer, was popularly believed to guarantee the believer’s place in heaven. At the center of the dish is a radial swirl of human-headed fish. Combining figural imagery with Qurʾanic text is rare in Islamic art.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1983.27
Title
Dish with Qur'anic Inscription
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
c. 1600
Places
Creation Place: South Asia, India, Deccan, Bijapur
Culture
Indian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216215

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2590, South Asian Art, South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
Diam: 27.9 x H: 2.5 cm (11 x 1 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Philip Hofer Fund for Islamic and Indian Art, the Fund for the Acquisition of Islamic Art, and the Discretionary Fund of the Islamic Department
Accession Year
1983
Object Number
1983.27
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
The placement of fish at the bottom of a vessel associated with water is a long-standing tradition in Islamic metalwork and can be seen in several earlier objects in this gallery. However, the form of these swirling fish, with human heads, is characteristic of the Deccan and can be seen in architecture as well as metalwork. Around the rim of this dish is the Throne Verse from the Quran in thuluth script against a scrolling vegetal background. The use of thuluth script during this period is also typical of the Deccan and can be paralleled in architecture; in contemporary northern India and Iran, nastaliq was the script of choice. Notes from the Glory and Prosperity exhibition, Feb - June 2002.

Publication History

  • Stuart Cary Welch, India, Art and Culture, 1300-1900, exh. cat., Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1985), Page 299-300/Figure 199

Exhibition History

  • Islamic Art: Drawings, Calligraphies and Objects, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/29/1983 - 09/25/1983
  • Indian Art During the Mughals, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/1986 - 05/18/1986
  • Recent Acquisitions , Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/15/1986 - 01/04/1987
  • Geometry of the Spirit: Islamic Illumination and Calligraphy, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/30/1988 - 06/26/1988
  • Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
  • Earthly Paradise: Gardens in Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/08/1993 - 08/22/1993
  • The Continuous Stroke of a Breath: Calligraphy from the Islamic World, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/20/2003 - 07/18/2004
  • Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/2006 - 03/23/2008
  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2590 South and Southeast Asia, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu