Folio with the Hilyah and a View of Mecca

Location: Ottoman Turkey

Materials:

ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper

Dimensions: 12.5 x 8.5cm

Accession Number: CAL 452

Other Notes:

The detached folio probably comes from a manuscript containing a selection of prayers and Qur’anic verses (an‘am), of a type which was particularly associated with the Ottomans. The recto has the hilyah of the Prophet and a depiction of the muhr al-nubuwwah (the ‘Seal of Prophethood’). The verso has a view of the Holy Sanctuary at Mecca, which was probably accomapnied by a view of the Prophet’s mosque in Medina on the facing page, in the manner of Ottoman copies of the Dala‘il al-khayrat.

Script:

written in thulth and ghubar scripts

Bibliography:

N.F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen. Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume V, London 1996, cat.8, p.54.