Signature: Below niche: Niza[m].......Shihab.

Inscription: First margin, in Arabic:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم. قل هو الله احد، الله الصمد، لم یلد و لم یولد و لم یکن کفوا احد. صدق الله العظیم و صدق رسوله الکریم. (سوره الاخلاص، سوره 112، آیه 1 الی 4)
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him. God Almighty and his messenger has spoken the truth. (Surah Al-Ikhlas, Surah 112, Verses 1 to 4)

Second margin, in Arabic:
انتقل من دار الفناء إلى عالم البقاء، الشيخ الأعظم الرباني والمرشد الكامل الصمداني، مقتدى أرباب الصفوة والتقى، فنادى الأمة من أولى النهى، تاج الملة والدين، محمود بن الشيخ المعمل بلاعظم المغفور، وشرف رتبته في الدين، تقي الملة والدين، دادا محمد اليزدي، في رابع محرم سنة ثلاث وخمسين وسبعمائة.
Went from the world of mortals to the world of immortals, the great divine sheikh, and exalted holy leader, the leader of pious people, who called people from the first prohibition, the crown of people and religion, Mahmoud son of the great blessed Sheikh, who has an elevated status, a pious man among people and in religious conviction, Mohammad Al-Yazdi, [died] in fourth of Muharram, year of seven hundred and fifty third (February 29, 1352 A.D)

Third margin:
"شهد الله انه لا اله الا هو و الملائکه و ا[و]لوالعلم قایما بالقسط، لا اله الا هو العزیز الحکیم. ان الدین عند الله الاسلام ..." (سوره آل عمران، سوره 3، آیه 18 و 19)
Allah (Himself) is Witness that there is no Allah save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). Maintaining His creation in justice, there is no Allah save Him the Almighty, the Wise. Lo! religion with Allah (is) the Surrender (to His Will and Guidance) (Surah Al-Al Imran, Surah 3, Verses 18 and 19).

Upper rectangle:
لا اله الا الله، محمد رسول الله
There is no God, except Allah; and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah

Lower rectangle:
"... لمن الملک، الیوم لله الواحد القهار" (سوره الاغافر، سوره 40، آیه 16)
Whose is the Sovereignty this day? It is Allah's, the One, the Almighty. (Surah Al-Ghafir, Surah 40, Verse 16)

Signed below niche:
عمل نظا[م] ... شهاب
Made by Niza[m].......Shihab.

(Qur'an translation by Marmaduke Pickthall. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran. A. A. Knopf, New York, 1930)

(Mohammad Farsimadan, August, 2022)

[ J. R. Preece, London; until 1931]; sale, Sotheby's, London, June 16–17, 1931, lot 165; [ A. Rabenou, Paris, until 1935; sold to MMA]

London. Burlington House. "International Exhibition of Persian Art," January 7, 1931–February 28, 1931, no. 27.

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nature of Islamic Ornament Part III: Geometric Patterns," March 17–July 18, 1999, no catalogue.

"London, 7th January–28th February, 1931." In International Exhibition of Persian Art at the Royal Academy of Arts. 1931. Cat. no. 27.

"London, June 16–17, 1931." In Important and Valuable Persian Works of Art. London, 1931. J.R. Preece Collection, lot 165.

McAllister, Hannah. "A Fourteenth-century Persian Tombstone." MMA Bulletin vol. 33 (1938). pp. 126–27, ill.

Fehérvári, Géza. "Tombstone or Mihrab? A Speculation." Islamic Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1972). p. 248, ill. fig. 5 (b/w).

Ettinghausen, Richard. "Islamic Art." MMA Bulletin vol. 33, no. 1 (Spring 1975). p. 51, ill. (b/w).

Welch, Stuart Cary. The Islamic World. vol. 11. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 77, ill. fig. 57 (color).

Schimmel, Annemarie. "Islamic Calligraphy." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., vol. 50, no. 1 (Summer 1992). pp. 50–51, ill. fig. 61 (b/w).

Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World vol. 2 (2021). pp. 32–54, ill. fig. 9.