Curtain for the Door of the Ka‘bah
Title:
Curtain for the Door of the Ka‘bah
Date: circa 1916
Location: Istanbul, Turkey; commissioned by Sultan Mehmed V
Materials: black silk, with coloured silk appliqués, relief-embroidered in silver and silver-gilt wire over cotton thread padding
Dimensions: 499 x 248cm
Accession Number: TXT 305
Script:
The dedicatory inscription states that this curtain was made in Dar al-Khilafah al-‘Aliyyah (‘The Abode of the Exalted Caliphate’ – that is, Istanbul). During the First World war, and fearing that Cairo would not be able to send the usual textiles to Mecca, Sultan Mehmed V ordered that they are made in Istanbul. This is the only style of Ka‘bah door curtain to have been made there.
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