Funerary stele bearing the name of Muhammad b. Ishaq al-Azdi - Lot 205

Funerary stele bearing the name of Muhammad b. Ishaq al-Azdi Egypt, Abbasid Empire, first half of 9th century Tombstone in white marble, vertical format, engraved in low relief with 15 lines in kufic script, with a lateral border formed by a chain of S-shaped segments, and a triangular "tabula ansata" decoration at the top (wear, accidents). Height 61 cm; Width: 27 cm The inscription begins with the Basmala and the verse from Qur'an III, 18, followed by : hadha ma yashhadu 'alayhi ... [muham]mad? bin ishaq al-azdi [yashhad]d inna allah la ilah illa huwa wahdahu la sharik lahu wa-inna muhammad 'abduhu wa rasuluhu salla allah 'alyahi wa-sallama wa-inna al-mawt haqq wa-inna al-ba'th [haqq] wa-inna al-sa'a atiya la rib fiha wa-inna ... [allah] yab'ath man fi al-qubur ... (This is what [Muham]mad b. Ishaq al-Azdi testifies to. He testifies that "God! There is no god but He, the Only One, without partner" and that "Muhammad is His servant and messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace", and that "death is truth" and that "resurrection [is truth]" and that "the hour comes, there is no doubt about it, and [God] resurrects those in the graves (Qur'an XXII, 7)". Although the stele is undated, the style of its Kufic script, the religious formulas used in the text, and the decorative motifs, notably the S-shaped chain border, are extremely similar to those on steles from Egypt from the first half of the 9th century, several of which are preserved in the Musée du Louvre, Paris and the Arab Museum in Cairo, Egypt. See Thérèse Bittar, Pierres et stucs épigraphiés. Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts de l'Islam, RMN, Paris, 2003, notably: cat. 2, p. 40, dated 206H./821-22 (MAO 399); cat. 3, p. 42, dated 208H./823 (MAO 729); cat. 6, p. 49-52, ill. p. 20, dated 218H./833 (inv. MAO 911). See also Gaston Wiet, Stèles funéraires. Catalog du Musée Arabe, Cairo, 1936 pls. I-IV, for almost identical steles from the same period. The triangular decorative element at the top of the stela, known as the "tabula ansata", already adorned Coptic stelae in the 5th-6th centuries and appeared on Islamic stelae from the early 9th century. It is used much less frequently from the mid-ninth century onwards, and is very rarely attested in subsequent centuries (Th. Bittar, op.cit., p. 50). Expert: Laure Soustiel (SFEP expert) laure@soustiel.com Tel. 06 09 47 27 31