PROBABLY CAIRO, EGYPT, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

A SILK AND METAL-THREAD CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL FROM THE MAQAM IBRAHIM
PROBABLY CAIRO, EGYPT, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY
The midnight-black silk ground with three applied silk inscriptional cartouches, the upper cartouche embroidered with a strong silver metal-thread thuluth inscription on a plain lemon-yellow ground, above a red cartouche similarly inscribed, the lower half with an inscribed yellow silk cartouche, with embroidered foliate motifs around the cartouches, the sides with thin borders containing a similar continuous vine, a broad lower border containing an arcade motif with lancets above and below, mounted on a wooden board, in a gilt wooden frame
7ft.6in. x 5ft.2in. (227cm. x 157cm.)

Provenance

Private UK Collection

Engraved

Across the top: the basamala followed by part of Qur'an II, sura al-baqara, v.125 (part)

In the red cartouche: the upper register with the basmala, the middle register with Qur'an II, sura al-baqara, v.260, the lower register with the basmala followe by Qur'an III, sura al-'Imran, v.96

The yellow cartouche: the spandrels with the names of Muhammad and Allah, the lower part with Qur'an XVII, sura al-Isra, v.84

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The Maqam Ibrahim marks the spot were Ibrahim is reputed to have stood while constructing the Ka'ba. Originally adjacent to it, it was moved to a spot 10m distant following the conquest of Mecca in AH 8 / 629-30 AD, before being covered by the caliph al-Mahdi and then embellished by his successors. Like the Ka’ba itself, the Maqam Ibrahim has historically been covered with textile panels embroidered with Qu’ranic verses, the annual replacement of which was a duty which from 1517 fell to the Ottoman Sultans.

The decoration of the kiswa of the Maqam Ibrahim has evolved over the years. Examples from the early 19th century, such as one example dated to AH 1212 / 1806 AD in the Topkapi Palace, included depictions of pillars and mosque lamps to either side of the inscriptional cartouche (Hülya Tezcan, Sacred Covers of Islam's Holy Shrines, Istanbul, 2017, p.302, no.73). Over time these elements were reduced in favour of blooming vines and flowerheads. A similarly-decorated Maqam Ibrahim cover is in the Khalili Collection (TXT 243), which like this example retains its original coloured-silk panels behind the text. The style of decoration on this example closely resembles that on a Ka'ba door curtain (burqa') in the Topkapi, which is dated to AH 1327 / 1909-10 AD (Tezcan, op.cit., p.240, no.46).
A Kiswa dated to AH 1229 / 1882-3 AD was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 165.

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