This photograph of a decorative inscription from an unidentified mausoleum in the northern cluster of shrines at the Shah-i Zindah necropolis (Samarkand, Uzbekistan) is from the archeological part of Turkestan Album. The six-volume photographic survey was produced in 1871-72, under the patronage of General Konstantin P. von Kaufman, the first governor-general (1867-86) of Turkestan, as the Russian Empire's Central Asian territories were called. The album devotes special attention to Samarkand’s Islamic architecture, such as 14th- and 15th-century monuments from the reign of Timur (Tamerlane) and his successors. Of particular note is Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”), built on the elevated site of an ancient settlement known as Afrosiab and revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Although the patron of this mausoleum has not been conclusively identified, its date of construction is known to be 1360-61. Despite major damage, the mausoleum facade has a rich array of polychrome ceramic ornamentation in floral, geometric, and inscriptional forms. The facade arch, or peshtak, is framed by a carved, glazed terracotta band of script in the cursive Thuluth style. The letters are set within an intricate tendril pattern, and the band has a tile border. This view shows a fragment of the inscription on the lower left side of the facade.