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The Holy Sanctuaries at Mecca and Medina
London, United Kingdom
Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection
About Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection, London
18th – early 19th century
MSS 1278
Ink, gold and watercolours on paper
15.2 x 10.5cm (each page)
Mughal
India
The two detached pages most probably come from a copy of al-Jazuli’s Dala’il al-khayrat (full title, Dala’il al-khayrat wa shawariq al-anwar fi dhikr al-salat ‘ala al-nabi al-mukhtar).
One of the most popular works of prayer in the Islamic world, it was composed by a native of Sus, Abu ‘Abdallah Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Abu Bakr al-Jazuli (d. 1645). The work consists of prayers for the Prophet, together with his epithets, and a description of his tomb.
Digressing somewhat from the text, Ottoman and Indian copies of the work almost always included depictions of the Meccan sanctuary besides that in Medina. The depictions in Indian copies were often diagrammatic in nature, in contrast to the more realistic, three-dimentional representations in Ottoman copies.
Provenance and date are based on stylistic grounds.
“al-Djazuli”, in Bosworth, C.E., van Donzel, E.J., Pearson, H. (eds), Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 2 (C-G), Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1983: 527–8.
Porter, V., The Art of Hajj, London: British Museum, 2012: 82–3, fig.50.
Nahla Nassar "The Holy Sanctuaries at Mecca and Medina" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;uk;Mus22;46;en
Prepared by: Nahla Nassar
MWNF Working Number: UK2 46
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