AN OTTOMAN WALNUT AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID PANEL RETAILED BY MAX FRUCHTERMANN, TURKEY, PROBABLY CONSTANTINOPLE, CIRCA 1900

Of rectangular form, the central panel inlaid in mother-of-pearl with inscriptions in thuluth, the reverse with label for Max Fruchtermann, 335 Grand Rue de Pera. 38.4 by 22.5 cm.

CATALOGUE NOTE Inscriptions: li khamsah atfa biha hurr al-waba al-hatimah al-mustafa wa al-murtada wa abnahuma wa al-fatimah, 'I have five [persons] by whom I extinguish the heat of plague (cholera), al-Mustafa (i.e. Prophet Muhammad), al-Murtada (i.e. 'Ali) and the two sons (i.e. Hasan and Husayn] and Fatimah'.

Max Fruchtermann (1852-1918) opened a frame shop at Yuksekkaldirim in Istanbul in 1864. He is best known as an early publisher of postcards of the Ottoman Empire.