Dish with Qur'anic Inscription

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.