Sitarah for the Prophet’s Mihrab

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

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

Dimensions: 298 x 208 cm

Accession Number: TXT 272

Script:

The roundel at the top of the sitarah is inscribed with Qur’an, Surat Al ‘Imran, III, part of verse 37. As the same text is inscribed above the Prophet’s mihrab in the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, it is more than likely that this sitarah was made for it. Below this is a row of six small roundels with the names of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘Ali, Hasan and Husayn, followed by a panel with the Ayat al-Kursi (‘Verse of the Throne’; Surat al-Baqarah, verse 255), below which is the tughra of Sultan Abdulmajid I.