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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2009.202.48
Title
Cenotaph Cover
Classification
Textile Arts
Work Type
textile
Date
17th century
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Ottoman period
Culture
Ottoman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/199103

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Compound silk weave; green satin warp-faced ground, patterned with white wefts binding in plain
Technique
Lampas
Dimensions
138 x 67.5 cm (54 5/16 x 26 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Stuart Cary Welch (by 1999 - 2008,) by descent; to his estate (2008-2009,) gift; to Harvard Art Museum.

Notes:
Object was part of long-term loan to Museum in 1999.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch
Accession Year
2009
Object Number
2009.202.48
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The Prophet Muhammad was buried in the southeastern corner of his mosque in Medina. Like the annual textiles sent to furnish the Kaʿba in Mecca, special textiles were made for the Prophet’s tomb. These included silk curtains and door covers. This kind of green-ground zig-zag textile once formed part of an interior fabric for his tomb. Its thuluth inscriptions focus on prayers upon God, Muhammad, and the four orthodox caliphs and companions of the prophet. It was likely later cut up and reused as a tomb cover.

Exhibition History

  • Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
  • Saints, Shrines and Pilgrimages, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/06/1991 - 06/09/1991
  • The Ottomans and their Contemporaries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/21/1992 - 05/17/1992
  • Calligraphy and the Arts of the Book, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/25/1993 - 01/30/1994
  • A Grand Legacy: Arts of the Ottoman Empire, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/09/1999 - 01/02/2000
  • Tangible Things, The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Cambridge, 01/24/2011 - 05/29/2011

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu