Sitarah for the Rawdah in the Prophet’s Mosque

TXT 273

Istanbul


1839–61


deep turquoise-blue silk with red, green and pale-blue silk appliqués, relief-embroidered in silver and silver-gilt wire over card and cotton thread padding


240 x 130cm

The large red medallion at the top of the curtain is inscribed with a prayer upon the Prophet. The two lamps to either side of it carry the shahadah. Below these, on green ground, is Qur’an, Surat al-A‘raf, VII, verse 89, in part and, in the pale blue oval, the hadith, ma bayna qabri wa minbari rawdah min riyad al-jannah (‘Between my tomb and my minbar is one of the gardens of Paradise’).