Publication Date
The cover is dated 1067 AH / 1656 - 7 AD and the finishes are of later date.
Publication Place
-
Al-Khalili Family Trust - Nasser D. Collection. Al-Khalili Islamic Art
Subject
The cover and end pennants are green silk embroidered with silver and silver camouflage wire over cotton thread batting and the camouflage copper alloy finishes are of later date.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
TXT 289
Record ID
object;EPM;uk;Mus22;26;ar
Library Location
Al-Khalili Family Trust - Nasser D. Collection. Al-Khalili Islamic Art
Date
The cover is dated 1067 AH / 1656 - 7 AD and the finishes are of later date.
Notes
The Mahmal was one of the rituals of the Mahmal representing the authority of the Sultan over the holy places he ruled. It was recorded that the Mamluk Sultan Baybars (reigned during 1260 - 1277) was the first to send a mahmal with caravans of pilgrims from Cairo, and this custom continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. This mahmal is the first of seven mahmal covers of this type in the Al-Khalili collections, and it is an example of a mahmal who left Damascus with a convoy of Syrian and Turkish pilgrims. The Egyptian and Syrian mahmal met with a third mahmal from Yemen. The embroidered Qur’anic verses are opposite one another: The text at the top of the pyramid is the Qur’an from Surah Al-Ahzab (33), verse 56, which mentions the Prophet and the band around the lower part, verse 127 from Surah Al-Baqarah, which refers to Abraham and Ishmael, who raise the foundations of the House, which is the Kaaba. And right at the top and below the final section is verse 7 of Surah An-Nahl (16): “And you will carry your burdens to a country you could not reach except with hardship.”
Sample Text
“Full cover of a Damascus bearing in the name of Sultan Mehmed IV” within Discover Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;uk;Mus22;26;ar
