Prayer Mat thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Prayer Mat

1841 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Plain weave silk embroidered with silk in straight stitches; whitework; backed with roller-printed plain weave cotton and faced with woollen twill. There is a cotton interlining.

The central area has a pointed mihrab arch form outlined in small pendant reciprocal trefoil shapes, and small touching squares. The spandrels are decorated with six diagonal lines of inscription not fully vowelled. A large pendant rectangle containing three lines of inscription is placed at the apex of the arch, and between this are two lines of small lozenges (representing the rosary) and a bowl shaped motif (which might represent the comb?) holding two lines of inscription. The rest of the central field is decorated with a regular pattern of intersecting lozenge forms, each holding a stylized flowering stem, or the small lozenges and eight-pointed star/flowerhead. This central area is framed by a row of lozenges, each containing eight triangles of straight stitch so forming a smaller lozenge form; the remaining spaces in between are filled with stylized plant motifs. This leads into another inscription band on all four sides, containing the date.

Silk Thread: cannot determine twist.
Embroidery Thread: white silk; 2S

Backing: roller printed plain weave cotton; white ground with a grid of large curved rectangles alternating with small rectangles, each framed with a chevron stripe of red, purple and yellow, and each holding a flowering spray in blue, green, red, yellow and black.
Facing: bias cut, woollen twill with narrow stripes of white, dark blue, yellow, pink, green and red, holding either a ribbon meander or an isolated stylized form in the other colours.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
cotton yarn, woollen yarn, silk thread, weaving, embroidering, whitework, printing, sewing.
Brief description
Prayer mat, silk backed with cotton, Iran, Qajar period, 1841
Physical description
Plain weave silk embroidered with silk in straight stitches; whitework; backed with roller-printed plain weave cotton and faced with woollen twill. There is a cotton interlining.

The central area has a pointed mihrab arch form outlined in small pendant reciprocal trefoil shapes, and small touching squares. The spandrels are decorated with six diagonal lines of inscription not fully vowelled. A large pendant rectangle containing three lines of inscription is placed at the apex of the arch, and between this are two lines of small lozenges (representing the rosary) and a bowl shaped motif (which might represent the comb?) holding two lines of inscription. The rest of the central field is decorated with a regular pattern of intersecting lozenge forms, each holding a stylized flowering stem, or the small lozenges and eight-pointed star/flowerhead. This central area is framed by a row of lozenges, each containing eight triangles of straight stitch so forming a smaller lozenge form; the remaining spaces in between are filled with stylized plant motifs. This leads into another inscription band on all four sides, containing the date.

Silk Thread: cannot determine twist.
Embroidery Thread: white silk; 2S

Backing: roller printed plain weave cotton; white ground with a grid of large curved rectangles alternating with small rectangles, each framed with a chevron stripe of red, purple and yellow, and each holding a flowering spray in blue, green, red, yellow and black.
Facing: bias cut, woollen twill with narrow stripes of white, dark blue, yellow, pink, green and red, holding either a ribbon meander or an isolated stylized form in the other colours.
Dimensions
  • Length: 129.5cm (Note: proper left)
  • Width: 84cm
  • Length: 1318mm (Note: proper right)
Style
Marks and inscriptions
(a) An entreaty to the 14 religious figures known as the Tawassul bi chahardah ma'sum. (b) Ayat al-kursi: Qur'an II, 257 and part of 258. (c) Subhana rabbi al-a'la wa bihamdih (d) Allahumma sall-i 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad. (There are four carefully drawn and embroidered prayers and verses from the Qur'an: (a) around the border; (b) in the spandrels; (c) in the point of the arch; (d) in the centre of the textile. Zahra is an epithet for the Prophet's daughter, Fatima. Imam Hassan and Imam Husain were the second and third Imam and grandsons of the Prophet. The fifth Imam was Muhammad.The sixth was Jafar. There is an epithet for the ninth Imam, Muhammad. The tenth was 'Ali. 'Asgari is an epithet for the eleventh Imam, Hassan. The title of the twelth was Mahdi.)
Translation
(a) By the Arab Prophet and the civil Messenger [of God] and his brother Asad Allah [the lion of god] known as Ali and by Zara, the pure and the mother who gave birth to her and by the two grandsons [of the Prophet] and the two lions and by the pure chase descendants and by the Sajjad [trhe prostrator] and by al-Baqir [the one knowledgeable enough to split the difficulties] and by al-Sadiq [the rightful] indeed and by Musa and 'Ali and Taqi [the pious] and Naqi [the pure], Amen. And by the possessor of military [might], the proof, that is the uprising of the right [Hujjat-al-qa'im) the one who strikes with his sword for immortal rule. Prayers be upon them all and peace thousands of times, day and night, morning and evening proceed. O God answer our prayers and bless on us all and satisfy our needs, all of us, my God and my Lord and accept in the best way of acceptance our prayers in the name of by Muhammad, by Muhammad, by Muhammad, by 'Ali, by 'Ali, by 'Ali [in the] month of Rajab 1257 [October/November 1841]. Glory be to my exalted Lord and praise belong to Him. O our God bless Muhammad and the Progeny of Muhammad.
Production
roller printed cotton is European
Bibliographic reference
Jennifer Wearden and Patricia L. Baker, Iranian Textiles (London:V&A Publishing, 2010): Plate 40.
Collection
Accession number
603-1897

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Record createdJuly 8, 2008
Record URL
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