Lot 428 AN OTTOMAN METAL-THREAD EMBROIDERED CALLIGRAPHIC HIZAM, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Rectangular, the black ground embroidered with silver and gilt thread wires with applique silk panels, the large central cartouche containing a monumental thuluth inscription, corners decorated with floral motifs, flanked by two smaller cartouches enclosing the names of Allah and Muhammad, outer borders decorated with a repeating vegetal motif, backed. 89 by 695 cm.

The inscriptions comprise: The central frieze: In large thuluth script of gilt wires on a black ground, Quran surah "the Hajj" (the Pilgrimage) verses 26-28. Two smaller cartouches: in large elegant thuluth script on a red ground ''Allah jala jalallahu, and Muhammad rasul Allah/ Allah may His majesty be glorified, and Muhammed is the messanger of Allah''.

CATALOGUE NOTE: The four walls of the Kabaa are covered with a curtain (Kiswa) with the Shahada outlined in the weave. About two thirds of the way up runs a gilt embroidered band (hizam) covered with Quran verses. Each year, when the new Kiswa arrives the guardians of the Kaaba, the Banu Shayban, divide the old Kiswa up and distribute the pieces to honoured pilgrims. Entire surahs were apparently reserved for important dignitaries or rulers. For panels from the hizam in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, see J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam, Treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2007, no.312, p.265.