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Lot Essay
The inscription reads:
Fi ayyam dawlat al-Sultan al-'Azam, Malik riqab al-umam , Mawla muluk al-'Arab w'al-Ajam, Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Bahadur Khan, abbada Allah dawlatahu.
(In the days of the reign of the greatest Sultan, Master of the necks of the nations, Lord of the kings of the Arabs and the Persians, Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Bahadur Khan, may God make his reign eternal).
Uzun Hasan (Long or Tall Hasan) was the greatest king of the Aqquyunlu, the tribally based dynasty which rose from Eastern Anatolia and during his reign came to rule over the greater part of Iran. His reign could be said to have begun when he succeeded in becoming paramount chief of the Aqquyunlu in 1457, but the establishment of Aqquyunlu power in western Persia began with his victories over Jahanshah Qaraquyunlu in 1467 and the Timurid Abu Sa'id in 1469. Death removed him from his throne in 1478. The titulature used in his inscriptions on the walls of Diyarbekir differ in some respects from that of the present carving, notably in lacking the kunya or by-name Abu'l-Nasr and the titles Bahadur (of Ilkhanid origin) and Khan (see Gabriel, Albert: Voyages archologiques dans la Turquie orientale, Paris, 1940, vol.i, p.326). These features occur, however, on some types of his later coinage, as does the title "greatest Sultan" (Tabatabai, Sayyid Jamal Turabi: Sikka-ha-yi Aq Quyunlu, Tabriz, 2535, pp.44,48,50). Abu'l-Nasr, Bahadur and Khan are also found in the monumental inscriptions with his name at Isfahan and Yazd within Iran.
The closest epigraphic parallels for the phrasing on the slab are provided by a repair inscription dated 1476/7 on the mosque at Ashtarjan, near Isfahan (Hunufar, Lutfullah: Ganjina-yi Athar-i Tarikh-yi Isfahan, Isfahan, 1344, pp.95, 276-7; and Miles, George, C.: "The inscriptions of the Masjid-i Jami' at Ashtarjan", Iran, XII, 1974, pp.97-8; and Afshar, Iraj: Yadgarha-yi Yazd, Tehran, 1354, vol.II, pp.139-40). Also comparable is the inscription on the tall inlaid bronze lamp dedicated to the tomb of Bayram Baba Vali (Melikian-Chirvani, A. S.: "The Lights of Sufi Shrines", Islamic Art, vol.II, 1987, pp.117-147).
Fi ayyam dawlat al-Sultan al-'Azam, Malik riqab al-umam , Mawla muluk al-'Arab w'al-Ajam, Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Bahadur Khan, abbada Allah dawlatahu.
(In the days of the reign of the greatest Sultan, Master of the necks of the nations, Lord of the kings of the Arabs and the Persians, Abu'l-Nasr Hasan Bahadur Khan, may God make his reign eternal).
Uzun Hasan (Long or Tall Hasan) was the greatest king of the Aqquyunlu, the tribally based dynasty which rose from Eastern Anatolia and during his reign came to rule over the greater part of Iran. His reign could be said to have begun when he succeeded in becoming paramount chief of the Aqquyunlu in 1457, but the establishment of Aqquyunlu power in western Persia began with his victories over Jahanshah Qaraquyunlu in 1467 and the Timurid Abu Sa'id in 1469. Death removed him from his throne in 1478. The titulature used in his inscriptions on the walls of Diyarbekir differ in some respects from that of the present carving, notably in lacking the kunya or by-name Abu'l-Nasr and the titles Bahadur (of Ilkhanid origin) and Khan (see Gabriel, Albert: Voyages archologiques dans la Turquie orientale, Paris, 1940, vol.i, p.326). These features occur, however, on some types of his later coinage, as does the title "greatest Sultan" (Tabatabai, Sayyid Jamal Turabi: Sikka-ha-yi Aq Quyunlu, Tabriz, 2535, pp.44,48,50). Abu'l-Nasr, Bahadur and Khan are also found in the monumental inscriptions with his name at Isfahan and Yazd within Iran.
The closest epigraphic parallels for the phrasing on the slab are provided by a repair inscription dated 1476/7 on the mosque at Ashtarjan, near Isfahan (Hunufar, Lutfullah: Ganjina-yi Athar-i Tarikh-yi Isfahan, Isfahan, 1344, pp.95, 276-7; and Miles, George, C.: "The inscriptions of the Masjid-i Jami' at Ashtarjan", Iran, XII, 1974, pp.97-8; and Afshar, Iraj: Yadgarha-yi Yazd, Tehran, 1354, vol.II, pp.139-40). Also comparable is the inscription on the tall inlaid bronze lamp dedicated to the tomb of Bayram Baba Vali (Melikian-Chirvani, A. S.: "The Lights of Sufi Shrines", Islamic Art, vol.II, 1987, pp.117-147).