Panel, carved cedar
Eastern Iran; 1109
H: 60.5; W: 62 cm
Inventory number 11/1977
The panel has a groove in the corners with which it was attached to another piece of wood, perhaps in a minbar or a cenotaph. It was used in a religious context, since the text includes the basmala and below it an admonition to pray for the Prophet Muhammad. It also gives the date: Muharram 503 H = July 1109. Popular prayers of this type are also found on the period’s metalwork and textiles, but differ from official religious inscriptions.
The text was carved deep into the wood, and the spaces between the Kufi letters are filled with palmettes and drop-like shapes of various sizes. The style indicates that the panel comes from the Iranian region.
The text was carved deep into the wood, and the spaces between the Kufi letters are filled with palmettes and drop-like shapes of various sizes. The style indicates that the panel comes from the Iranian region.
Published in
Published in
Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, New York, 29/9-1976, lot 619;
Spink & Son: Persian and Islamic art, London 1977, cat.nr. 189;
Annika Richert (ed.): Islam: konst och kultur / art and culture, Statens historiska museum, Stockholm 1985, p. 130, cat.nr. 23;
Art from the World of Islam. 8th-18th century, Louisiana,Humlebæk 1987, cat.no. 63;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no.290;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 243;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 419;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 25;
Joachim Meyer: “Ornament or symbol. Around an early group of silver amulet cases in the David Collection” in Journal of the David Collection, 2021, 5, fig. 8, p. 14;
Joachim Meyer, Rasmus Bech Olsen and Peter Wandel: Beyond words: calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2024, cat. 8, pp. 126-127;
Spink & Son: Persian and Islamic art, London 1977, cat.nr. 189;
Annika Richert (ed.): Islam: konst och kultur / art and culture, Statens historiska museum, Stockholm 1985, p. 130, cat.nr. 23;
Art from the World of Islam. 8th-18th century, Louisiana,Humlebæk 1987, cat.no. 63;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no.290;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 243;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 419;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 25;
Joachim Meyer: “Ornament or symbol. Around an early group of silver amulet cases in the David Collection” in Journal of the David Collection, 2021, 5, fig. 8, p. 14;
Joachim Meyer, Rasmus Bech Olsen and Peter Wandel: Beyond words: calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2024, cat. 8, pp. 126-127;
