OTTOMAN TURKEY, 19TH CENTURY

The embroidered plants on this textile exhibit a naturalistic style characteristic of metal-thread embroidered panels woven for the Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina during the 19th century, such as a sitara woven for the mihrab of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina during the reign of Mahmud II (r.1809-39), now in the Khalili Collection (acc.no. TXT 398). The names of the Allah, Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and 'Umar appear identically interlaced with brief prayers on another sitara associated with the Rawda al-Mutaharra in the collection of the Topkapi Palace Museum (Hülya Tezcan, Sacred Covers of Islamic Holy Shrines, Istanbul, 2017, pp.332-3, no.84). A red-ground textile with the same inscription as our example sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2023, lot 163.