Stone Inscriptions form the Timurid, Qara Quyunlu and Aq Quyunlu Periods in Kashan

From the late fourteenth century until the rise of the Safavids, Kashan was ruled by different Muzaffarid, Timurid, Qara-Quyunlu, and Aq-Quyunlu rulers. Not many monuments from that turbulent period have survived in Kashan, among which eight epitaphs can be mentioned. These works, produced between 1455 and 1498, include two government decrees, five large tombstones, and one small tombstone. The signed examples show that a calligrapher and a stonemason collaborated in the production of each work. Four of them were carved by Mubarak Shah and written by Muhammad al-Mahallati. Three stones were carved by the master Khwaja Jan, one of which bears the calligrapher’s name (Nur-Allah ibn ‘Ala al-Din Hussayn al-Murshidi). This article seeks to analyze the form and content of the inscriptions, and also tries to identify religious approaches in pre-Safavid Kashan.

The two government decrees were issued by the Aq-Quyunlu rulers: the first regarding tax exemption for residents of the Shiite village of Mashhad-i Ardahal, in which Shahrukh is mentioned with respect, and the second, regarding the adjustment of agricultural product prices, issued by Jahanshah (r. 1438-1476) and his wife and was installed at the entrance of the city’s most important mosque.

The works of Mubarak Shah and Mahallati have major differences from the works of Khwaja Jan, both in terms of aesthetics and religious approaches. The tombstones of the Mubarak Shah and Mahallati are simpler, with more formal inscriptions, and are almost devoid of any Shiite tinge. The only exception is the phrase “O Ali” on the tomb of Mir Shams al-Din, which may have a Sufi aspect. The works of Mubarak Shah and Mahallati consist of simple geometric surfaces, and the most important religious inscription in them is Ayat al-Kursi, which appears on the walls of the tombstones in a bold thuluth script.

On the other hand, in the works of Khwaja Jan, a new element has appeared on the tombstones of Kashan, namely the inscription of salawat-i kabira (i.e. blessing to the fourteen infallibles) and the Shiite prayer of Nad-i ‘Ali, as well as the motifs of cypress and vases. They have reduced the importance of Ayat al-Kursi and moved it to marginal frieze of the upper surface of the stone, and instead, they have dedicated the bold thuluth inscription of the walls to the salawat-i kabira. They left no empty space on the surface of one of the tombstones, and in addition to the name of the deceased and a curse to the buyer and the seller of the stone, they carved the entire Quranic sura of Al-Insan, the salawat-i kabira, the Nad-i ‘Ali prayer, and the phrase “Everything will perish except His Face.” The most important work left by them should be considered the tombstone of Mir ‘Imad and his wife, because the influence of the form and content of these works can be seen in the Safavid and Qajar tombstones of the Kashan region. The most frequent religious inscription in the Safavid and Qajar tombs of Kashan is salawat-i kabira, and the most frequent decoration is the motif of a cypress and vase.