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Lot Essay
The inscription on this sitara is as follows:
Line 1: qala allah tabaraka wa ta'ala fi kitabihi al-'aziz (God, may he be exalted and blessed, said in his beloved book)
Lines 2-4: Qur'an LXII (sura al-jumu'a), vv.9-10
Line 5: amara bi-sana' hadhihi al-sitara li-minbar bayt allah al-haram al-mutawakkil 'ala allah faruq al-awwal malik masr nassarahu allah wa dhalika sana 1365 (He who puts his trust in God, Farouk I, King of Egypt, may God make him victorious, ordered the making of this covering for the minbar of the Sacred House of God in the year AH 1365/1945-46 AD).
The reference to beit Allah, literally the house of God probably means that this sitara was made for a minbar in the sacred enclosure (haram) of Mecca or even the Ka'ba itself. Two similar metal thread embroidered panels decorated with a niche in which hangs a lamp are in the Topkapi Museum. They are much earlier however, dated AH 1090/1683-4 AD and AH 1130/1717-8 AD. They were made for the mosque of Medina (Hülya Tezcan, Astar al-haramayn al-sharifayn, Istanbul, 1996, pp.118-23). A sitara dated AH 1325/1907-8 AD and probably hung on the door of the Ka'aba is of similar dimensions and decoration, showing with five long cartouches in the upper half and a square panel with a cusped medallions with floral arabesques below (Hulya Tazjan, op.cit., p.64-5). Our sitara bears the names of Sultan 'Abdul Hamid II and 'Abbas Hilmi Pasha which indicates that it was made in Cairo. Egypt provided the sitaras for the Ka'ba until 1962 AD (with the exception of a short interval between 1927 and 1937 AD. Our panel, dated 1945-6 AD, is one of the last examples produced in Egypt.
Line 1: qala allah tabaraka wa ta'ala fi kitabihi al-'aziz (God, may he be exalted and blessed, said in his beloved book)
Lines 2-4: Qur'an LXII (sura al-jumu'a), vv.9-10
Line 5: amara bi-sana' hadhihi al-sitara li-minbar bayt allah al-haram al-mutawakkil 'ala allah faruq al-awwal malik masr nassarahu allah wa dhalika sana 1365 (He who puts his trust in God, Farouk I, King of Egypt, may God make him victorious, ordered the making of this covering for the minbar of the Sacred House of God in the year AH 1365/1945-46 AD).
The reference to beit Allah, literally the house of God probably means that this sitara was made for a minbar in the sacred enclosure (haram) of Mecca or even the Ka'ba itself. Two similar metal thread embroidered panels decorated with a niche in which hangs a lamp are in the Topkapi Museum. They are much earlier however, dated AH 1090/1683-4 AD and AH 1130/1717-8 AD. They were made for the mosque of Medina (Hülya Tezcan, Astar al-haramayn al-sharifayn, Istanbul, 1996, pp.118-23). A sitara dated AH 1325/1907-8 AD and probably hung on the door of the Ka'aba is of similar dimensions and decoration, showing with five long cartouches in the upper half and a square panel with a cusped medallions with floral arabesques below (Hulya Tazjan, op.cit., p.64-5). Our sitara bears the names of Sultan 'Abdul Hamid II and 'Abbas Hilmi Pasha which indicates that it was made in Cairo. Egypt provided the sitaras for the Ka'ba until 1962 AD (with the exception of a short interval between 1927 and 1937 AD. Our panel, dated 1945-6 AD, is one of the last examples produced in Egypt.