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Lot Essay
The inscriptions on this 'alam read:
On the top, ya fattah, 'O Conqueror'
In the medallion, Qur'an XLVIII, sura al-fath, v.1
In the hand, ya qadi al-hajat, 'O judge of [all] needs'
In the traces of gold on the body, Qur'an LXI, sura al-saff, v.13 (part)
In his discussion of steel 'alams, James Allan quotes the Russian visitor Kotov who travelled to Isfahan in 1624-25 and who described them in some detail. He mentioned iron examples at the top of long bending poles that swayed through the assembled people as they moved (P. M. Kemp (trans. and ed.), Russian Travellers to India and Persia [1624-1798], Kotov, Yefremov, Danibegov, Delhi, 1959, p.25, quoted in James Allan and Brian Gilmour, Persian Steel. The Tanavoli Collection, Oxford, 2000, p.259). The tall three-pronged "spear" on the present 'alam was presumably designed to sway in the same way.
'Alams in the form of a hand were found amongst the Shi'ites of Central Asia, and were popular under the Ottomans as well as with the Shi'ite communities of India. Ella Sykes described poles topped with metal hands as symbols of 'Abbas, standard bearer at the battle of Karbala (Ella Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, London, 1898, p.163 quoted in Allan and Gilmour, op.cit., p.261). Naqvi on the other hand, sees the hand simply as a sign of protection (S. Naqvi, Qutb Shahi 'Ashur Khanas of Hyderabad City, Hyderabad, 1987, p.14, in Allan,op.cit., p.261).
The thick split palmettes that curl outwards at the top of the main panel of this 'alam relate to those found surrounding the central openwork medallion of an 'alam in the Tanavoli collection that is dated to the late 16th or early 17th century (Allan and Gilmour, op.cit., E.4, p.271).
On the top, ya fattah, 'O Conqueror'
In the medallion, Qur'an XLVIII, sura al-fath, v.1
In the hand, ya qadi al-hajat, 'O judge of [all] needs'
In the traces of gold on the body, Qur'an LXI, sura al-saff, v.13 (part)
In his discussion of steel 'alams, James Allan quotes the Russian visitor Kotov who travelled to Isfahan in 1624-25 and who described them in some detail. He mentioned iron examples at the top of long bending poles that swayed through the assembled people as they moved (P. M. Kemp (trans. and ed.), Russian Travellers to India and Persia [1624-1798], Kotov, Yefremov, Danibegov, Delhi, 1959, p.25, quoted in James Allan and Brian Gilmour, Persian Steel. The Tanavoli Collection, Oxford, 2000, p.259). The tall three-pronged "spear" on the present 'alam was presumably designed to sway in the same way.
'Alams in the form of a hand were found amongst the Shi'ites of Central Asia, and were popular under the Ottomans as well as with the Shi'ite communities of India. Ella Sykes described poles topped with metal hands as symbols of 'Abbas, standard bearer at the battle of Karbala (Ella Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, London, 1898, p.163 quoted in Allan and Gilmour, op.cit., p.261). Naqvi on the other hand, sees the hand simply as a sign of protection (S. Naqvi, Qutb Shahi 'Ashur Khanas of Hyderabad City, Hyderabad, 1987, p.14, in Allan,op.cit., p.261).
The thick split palmettes that curl outwards at the top of the main panel of this 'alam relate to those found surrounding the central openwork medallion of an 'alam in the Tanavoli collection that is dated to the late 16th or early 17th century (Allan and Gilmour, op.cit., E.4, p.271).