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Lot Essay
Inscription: In the yellow cartouches along top and bottom, waqf namud hajiyeh khwanzadeh binta qasim abiyanegi [1]153, 'Hajiyeh Khanzadeh, daugher of Qasim Abiyanegi, endowed it, 1153' In the large cartouches on the ivory ground, Qur'an XLVIII, sura al-fath, v.1 and the first hemistich of the nada 'aliyan quatrain. In the small cartouches in the interstices, Qur'an LXI, sura al-saff, v.13, names of God and the signature, katabahu muhammad u'min
Textiles of this kind, and that of the following lot, were made as tomb covers or hangings as tributes for the shrines of honoured men or Shi'a saints. Another textile of different colour, but precisely the same design with identical layout and inscriptions is in the David Collection (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen, 2001, no.651, p.381). Both our textile, and that of the David Collection have calligraphic bands which indicate that they were 'bequeathed by Hajjiyya Khawanzadah daughter of Qasim of Ibanaki [in the year] AH 1053'. Nothing is known of this pious donor, but her religious devotion is clear both by her costly gift and also her title of hajjiyya, indicating that she had performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The proximity of the scribe's name to the invocations to Allah and 'Ali is an indication not simply of a desire for artistic recognition, but also of the fact that the writing of a religious message was a pious act. In its bold repetitive design, Welch describes the inscription on the cloth as a visual metaphor of the verbal prayers piously repeated in a Shi'a shrine (Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, New York, 1979, no.62, p.150).
For another Safavid tomb cover, please see the following lot.
Textiles of this kind, and that of the following lot, were made as tomb covers or hangings as tributes for the shrines of honoured men or Shi'a saints. Another textile of different colour, but precisely the same design with identical layout and inscriptions is in the David Collection (Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam in the David Collection, Copenhagen, 2001, no.651, p.381). Both our textile, and that of the David Collection have calligraphic bands which indicate that they were 'bequeathed by Hajjiyya Khawanzadah daughter of Qasim of Ibanaki [in the year] AH 1053'. Nothing is known of this pious donor, but her religious devotion is clear both by her costly gift and also her title of hajjiyya, indicating that she had performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The proximity of the scribe's name to the invocations to Allah and 'Ali is an indication not simply of a desire for artistic recognition, but also of the fact that the writing of a religious message was a pious act. In its bold repetitive design, Welch describes the inscription on the cloth as a visual metaphor of the verbal prayers piously repeated in a Shi'a shrine (Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, New York, 1979, no.62, p.150).
For another Safavid tomb cover, please see the following lot.