Title: Sitarah for the Rawdah of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina
Location: Istanbul
Materials: red silk, heavily relief-embroidered in silver and silver-gilt wire over card and cotton thread padding
Dimensions: 280 x 163cm
Accession Number: TXT 443
Other Notes: 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
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