An important curtain from the tomb of the Prophet Ibrahim at Mecca, Ottoman, with the tughra of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r.1876-1909)

of tapered rectangular form, the black silk ground with applied pistachio and green silk panels, embroidered with silver and silver-gilt threads, with foliate cartouches framing Qur'anic inscriptions above a pair of half columns framing a vase-shaped cartouche with Qur'anic verse flanked by the names of Allah and Muhammad, the background with scrolling foliage within line borders

inscriptions

In the large cartouche:

al-sultan 'abd al-hamid khan ibn al-sultan al-ghazi 'abd al-majid khan ibn al-sultan mahmud khan ibn al-sultan 'abd al-hamid khan

'Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan son of the Conqueror Sultan 'Abd al-Majid Khan son of Sultan Mahmud Khan son of Sultan 'Abd al-Hamid Khan'

In the top corners:

'God /Muhammad'

In the top horizontal cartouche:

Qur'an, surah al-Baqara (II), parts of 125

In the middle horizontal cartouche:

Qur'an, surah Al 'umran (III), parts of 97

This beautiful cloth has a distinctive iconography which relates it to a group of Ottoman curtains from the Mosque of the Holy Ka'ba.  The coloured ground cartouches, the cusped rococo borders, the sequence of Qur'anic verses and the flanking columns are all found on curtains that covered the Shrine of the Prophet Ibrahim that stands alongside the Ka'ba.  Today, the shrine is covered by a glass and gilded structure, but prior to 1940 it was draped in cloth like the Ka'ba itself.  At some stage the shape of the structure must have changed from square to truncated pyramidal as documented in the change in shape of the surviving curtains.  Related curtains have been sold through these rooms 5 April 2006, lot 25 and at Christie's, 26 April 2005, lot 49 and 12 October 1999, lot 21