#timurid

Dish with three ducks on a pond, surrounded by water weeds

Mashhad, Iran, 1450-1475

Mausoleum of Shirin Beg Agha, sister of Timur, at the Shah-i Zinda necropolis in Samarqand.  The exterior decoration of this tomb includes inscriptions attributed to Socrates, including: “In truth the people of this world are like birds rejoicing.”

Timurid-style dragon handled jugs.  The bottom two were made in Turkey and China, respectively, but clearly on the Central Asian Timurid model.

Sources:xxxx

Images of enthroned kings from Rashid al-Din’s Compendium of Chronicles, early fourteenth century

Decorative motif composed of the word “Allah”

Aq Saray palace of Timur, Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan

Archnet recently relaunched its website, and it’s like it leaped past 15 years of web design in a single bound.  The old one was Geocities status, and after clicking around this new version for a while, I think I’m in love. 

ANYWAY this is the shrine of Nur al-Din Ni'matullah Vali in Mahan, Iran, and it’s beautiful, bye.

Shah-i-Zinda (Uzbek: Shohizinda; Persian: شاه زنده‎‎, meaning “The Living King”) is a necropolis in the north-eastern part of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Ensemble includes mausoleums and other ritual buildings of 9-14th and 19th centuries.