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Lot Essay
Accounts of embroidered bands being hung around the Ka'aba with devotional inscriptions as well as the name of incumbent caliphs date from as early as the Umayyad period. Each of the four walls of the Ka'ba is hung with a curtain (kiswa) with embroidered bands containing Qur'anic verses positioned nearly two-thirds of the way towards the top. Each year the Banu Shayban, the guardians of the Ka'ba, divide the of kiswa into pieces like the present lot which are distributed to important or honoured pilgrims.
Traditionally the textiles for the Ka’ba and the holy shrines were made in Egypt. Some coverings were also made in Yemen, Iran or in Istanbul (at the Hereke factory for instance). Opened by Muhammad Ali in 1817, the Kharanfash factory in Egypt stopped producing the kiswa when King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz of Saudi Arabia open a factory in Mecca in 1927.
The thin scrolling vine borders of this hizam are similar to another hizam attributed to Ottoman Egypt, circa 1900, which was sold in these Rooms, 1 May 2025, lot 128.
Traditionally the textiles for the Ka’ba and the holy shrines were made in Egypt. Some coverings were also made in Yemen, Iran or in Istanbul (at the Hereke factory for instance). Opened by Muhammad Ali in 1817, the Kharanfash factory in Egypt stopped producing the kiswa when King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz of Saudi Arabia open a factory in Mecca in 1927.
The thin scrolling vine borders of this hizam are similar to another hizam attributed to Ottoman Egypt, circa 1900, which was sold in these Rooms, 1 May 2025, lot 128.