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An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 1
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 2
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 3
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 4
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 5
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 6
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 7
An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18) Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century(7) image 8
Lot 55W

An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18)
Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century
(7)

Islamic and Indian Art
6 October 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£60,000 - £80,000

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An Ottoman metal thread-embroidered mahmal cover made by order of Sultan Mahmud II (reg. 1808-39) and later reused under Sultan Muhammad V (reg 1909-18)
Egypt, 19th Century, the tughra of Sultan Muhammad V early 20th Century

the lower cubic section surmounted by canopy in the form of a pyramid, one side with opening, of red and green silk profusely embroidered with silver and gilt-silver thread to each side of the lower section with two inscription-filled roundels surrounded by vines and floral sprays, above inscription-filled panels, the border with a band of interlocking palmette motifs; the upper section to each side with cartouches containing tughras to two sides and inscriptions to the remaining two sides, above further inscription filled cartouches, surrounded by vines and floral interlace, the borders with interlocking palmette motifs, with six loose panels embroidered with two bands of inscription and a panel containing scrolling foliate vines
265 x 125 x 125 cm.(7)

Footnotes

Inscriptions: in the bands in gold on red, Qur'an, chapter II (al-baqarah), verse 255; mahmal kiswah al-ka'bah al-musharrafah, The cloth of the cover of the exalted Ka'bah'; in a cartouche below it, also in gold on silver, amara bi-'amal hadha al-mahmal mawlana al-sultan Mahmud al-thani a'azza allah 'Our Lord Sultan Mahmud the second, may God glorify him, ordered this cloth'; in the roundels, The names God, the Prophet (in gold on gold), the four Orthodox Caliphs and Hasan and Husayn (in gold on green); Mahmal (?) mawlana al-sultan, 'The cloth of Our Lord the Sultan'; underneath it there is a tughra which says Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Majid (Muhammad V Rashad (r. 1327-36/1909-18); on the loose panels, in gold on green: The shahadah.

The mahmal is a ceremonial palanquin which accompanied the pilgrim caravan on route to Mecca during the Hajj. Produced each year, or sometimes reused like the present lot, it represented the authority of the Sultan over the holy places. It was mounted on the back of a camel, forming a symbolic centrepiece for the pilgrims, and housed a copy of the Qur'an. The first mahmal was sent by the Mamluk Sultan from Egypt in AD 1266. A later description by the fifteenth century encyclopaedist al-Qaqashandi describes 'a tent made of embroidered yellow silk and topped by a spherical finial', and the earliest surviving example in the Topkapi Palace commissioned by Sultan al-Ghawri (d.1516) is also yellow, the dynastic colour of the Mamluks. Later Ottoman examples, such as one in the Khalili Collection dated to c.1867-76, adopt the same colour scheme of red and green as the present lot. (Venetia Porter (ed.), Hajj, journey to the heart of Islam, British Museum exhibition catalogue, London, 2012, pp. 140-141).

Following the Hajj the mahmal was brought back to Cairo by the returning caravan, and the camel which had carried it to Mecca was rewarded for its hardship by being excused from labour for the rest of its life.

Additional information