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Lot Essay
The inscriptions read as follows.
Top broad band:
The call to God to bless Muhammad, his family, and his companions
Top narrow band:
Qur'an XXXIII, sura al-azhab, parts of v.40
Second broad band:
The shahada
Second narrow band:
Qur'an XXXIII sura al-azhab, v.56.
The decoration on this woven silk textile follows the standard form of 17th century Ottoman tomb covers, with major and minor epigraphic bands within chevrons. However, all of the major inscriptions are blessings on the Prophet Muhammad, and not anyone else, suggesting very strongly that this piece is from the covering of the Tomb of the Prophet himself in Madina.
A very similar textile was exhibited in the 1985 exhibition Unity of Islam at the King Faisal Foundation, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue of the same name, London, 1985, pp.184-85, and in Yanni Petsopoulous (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans, Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, London 1982, pl.158. That example is presently exhibited in the Hajj exhibition at the British Museum. The Unity of Islam catalogue also mentions a panel of identical design in the Musé Historique des Tissus, Lyon, published in Anthony Welch: Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, Asia Society, 1979, no.34. A larger similar weaving was sold in these Rooms 26 April 2006, lot 51A.
Top broad band:
The call to God to bless Muhammad, his family, and his companions
Top narrow band:
Qur'an XXXIII, sura al-azhab, parts of v.40
Second broad band:
The shahada
Second narrow band:
Qur'an XXXIII sura al-azhab, v.56.
The decoration on this woven silk textile follows the standard form of 17th century Ottoman tomb covers, with major and minor epigraphic bands within chevrons. However, all of the major inscriptions are blessings on the Prophet Muhammad, and not anyone else, suggesting very strongly that this piece is from the covering of the Tomb of the Prophet himself in Madina.
A very similar textile was exhibited in the 1985 exhibition Unity of Islam at the King Faisal Foundation, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue of the same name, London, 1985, pp.184-85, and in Yanni Petsopoulous (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans, Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, London 1982, pl.158. That example is presently exhibited in the Hajj exhibition at the British Museum. The Unity of Islam catalogue also mentions a panel of identical design in the Musé Historique des Tissus, Lyon, published in Anthony Welch: Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, Asia Society, 1979, no.34. A larger similar weaving was sold in these Rooms 26 April 2006, lot 51A.