Unknown North African, Middle Eastern, and Near Eastern
Textile with Qur'anic Inscriptions

Public Domain

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Artist Unknown North African, Middle Eastern, and Near Eastern

CultureTurkish

Titles

Textile with Qur'anic Inscriptions

DateLate 17th–18th century

MediumSilk; lampas weave, satin foundation with patterning wefts in plain weave binding

Dimensions27 1/2 × 26 1/2 in. (69.9 × 67.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Cathy and Vahid Kooros in honor of Peter C. Marzio

Object number2007.1307

Not on view

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Department

Art of the Islamic Worlds

Object Type

TEXTILES

DescriptionThis vibrant silk panel belonged to a larger textile that was probably intended as a tomb cover. According to the Qur'an—the holy book of Islam—silk will adorn the dwellers of Paradise, and its use for funerary purposes may well have been meant to anticipate such a promise. The textile's elaborate calligraphic decoration, dominated by sequences of chevron bands of varying sizes, contains Qur'anic passages and the shahada—the Islamic profession of faith and one of the five pillars of Islam—which recites: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Prophet of God."

Provenance Research Ongoing

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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