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.
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 |
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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.)
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Production | roller printed cotton is European |
Bibliographic reference | Jennifer Wearden and Patricia L. Baker, Iranian Textiles (London:V&A Publishing, 2010): Plate 40.
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Collection | |
Accession number | 603-1897 |
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Record created | July 8, 2008 |
Record URL |
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