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Source Description
This cenotaph cover bears calligraphic Qur'anic verses and the shahada of Islam: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." It would have been used as a cover for a sanduka, a coffin-shaped stone indicating the burial place of an important person. The chevron (zigzag) design was frequently used on kiswa covers commissioned by Ottoman sultans and sent to Mecca every year to adorn the Ka"ba. A square building located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the Ka"ba, which means cube in Arabic, is elegantly draped in a silk and cotton veil and is the holiest shrine in Islam.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
4732
label
Fragmentary Ottoman Cenotaph Cover with Qur'anic Verses
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
4732
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Fragmentary Ottoman Cenotaph Cover with Qur'anic Verses
description
This cenotaph cover bears calligraphic Qur'anic verses and the shahada of Islam: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." It would have been used as a cover for a sanduka, a coffin-shaped stone indicating the burial place of an important person. The chevron (zigzag) design was frequently used on kiswa covers commissioned by Ottoman sultans and sent to Mecca every year to adorn the Ka"ba. A square building located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the Ka"ba, which means cube in Arabic, is elegantly draped in a silk and cotton veil and is the holiest shrine in Islam.
provenance
Acquired by Henry Walters, Baltimore; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
17th-18th century (Ottoman)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
textiles
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
129
height
72
dimensionsRaw
W: 50 13/16 × W: 28 3/8 in. (129 × 72 cm)
Source extras
dynasty
Ottoman Dynasty
med
satin
creator_ids
6768
collection_ids
ISL
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a0ffee61733e76ed