Section from the Kiswah of the Ka‘bah

Location: Cairo, or possibly Mecca

Materials: silk lampas

Dimensions: 158 x 89cm

Accession Number: TXT 38

Other Notes:

The pattern consists of zigzag bands alternately enclosing the shahadah (‘There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God’) and the invocation ‘O! God’, ‘May his Majesty be exhalted’, the latter in mirrored script.

Bibliography:

S. Vernoit, Occidentalism. Islamic Art in the 19th Century, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume XXIII, London 1997, cat.8, pp.26–7.