Seal, rock crystal, heart shaped, set in silver, engraved.
Engraved with the name of the prophet, Mohammad in large bold text, set on decorated ground with floral designs:
یا محمد
Ya Mohammad
Within the letters there are further engraved inscriptions of Sura 1 (al-Fatiha):
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ اهدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ

An off-white, semi opaque pendant of tear drop-shaped agate, coarsly framed with black (silver?) metal. The sides of the frame are tooled with a diagonal stripe and the front is set with a punched line. The two holes at the top of the metal frame are decorated with tooled quatrefoils. The agate is finely engraved with Surah 1 (Al Fateha) from the Koran, within the bold bands of the invocation 'O Mohammad'. The field decorated with a scrolling foliate design. Possibly Iran, c.1750-1850.

Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).

Heart shaped quartz crystal seal set in silver, with loops for suspension. The seal is engraved with Arabic inscription (1st chapter of the Koran), finely written within the larger letters of the words 'O Mohammad.'

964-1884