Istanbul
1808–39
red silk, heavily relief-embroidered in silver and silver-gilt wire over card and cotton thread padding
280 x 163cm
That this curtain was intended for the rawdah is suggested by the text in the large medallion at the top. It consists of a hadith of the Prophet, ma bayna qabri wa minbari rawdah min riyad al-jannah (‘Between my tomb and my minbar is one of the gardens of Paradise’ ). Sultan Mahmud II is known to have practised the art of calligraphy and a number of sitarahs commissioned by him bear his pear-shaped signature cartouche. It reads, katabahu al-‘abd