Frieze
- Gallery: Room 43
- Date: 1480 (AH 885 14 Muharram)
- Object type: frieze
- Materials: basalt
- Museum number: 1826,0708.2.a-e
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a remarkable frieze carved from grey basalt. It features an Arabic inscription written in the elegant naskh script. The text is divided into five parts, each giving a glimpse into the legacy of Sultan Yusuf Shah, who ruled during the year 1480—marked by a specific date in the Islamic calendar.
This frieze was discovered at Gaur in Bengal and brought to the British Museum through the collection of Colonel William Franklin in 1826. The inscription is more than just decorative—it records a ruler's name and reign, offering scholars a valuable link to the region’s history. Notably, the basalt itself speaks to the artistic traditions of the time, using one of the area’s durable natural stones.
While the frieze is broken, its fragments still tell a story of power, language, and the legacy of a historical figure from centuries ago.
See it in person
Frieze is on display in Room 43 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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