Three panels of carved wood from a double door
The panels come from a double door on which the two best preserved were at the top, while the third and a fourth, which has been lost, were in the far more exposed position at the bottom.
The cursive Tuluth calligraphy is found on a spiral network with an inconceivably dense and fine structure. The text includes a phrase that translates as, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gateway,” which makes it probable that the doors come from a Shiite shrine.
The fourth panel might have told us who commissioned the doors and when, but the panels’ style indicates that they come from Syria or Iraq and date to the 13th-14th century.
The cursive Tuluth calligraphy is found on a spiral network with an inconceivably dense and fine structure. The text includes a phrase that translates as, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gateway,” which makes it probable that the doors come from a Shiite shrine.
The fourth panel might have told us who commissioned the doors and when, but the panels’ style indicates that they come from Syria or Iraq and date to the 13th-14th century.