1958.20: Pilgrim's Banner

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1958.20

People

Unknown Artist

Title

Pilgrim's Banner

Classification

Textile Arts

Work Type

textile

Date

1683

Places

Creation Place: Africa, North Africa

Culture

North African

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/216879

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Silk, silver foil, and gilded silver foil. Lampas with foundation of warp-faced plain weave and discontinuous supplementary wefts bound in plain weave.

Dimensions

369.6 x 211.8 cm (145 1/2 x 83 3/8 in.)
Banner width:: 190.5 cm (75 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet

Accession Year

1958

Object Number

1958.20

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This object is derived from the Ottoman shield-shaped banners known as "sanjak." The decorative program consists of Arabic inscriptions enhanced with talismanic emblems and floral and geometric motifs. The two-bladed sword on the lower half of the banner is known as "Dhu 'l-Faqar. The blades bear an inscription from the Qur'an in Maghribi script. An abbreviated version of the same verse is written in the large horizontal band near the top of the banner.

Publication History

• Walter B. Denny, "A Group of Silk Islamic Banners", Textile Museum Journal (1974), Vol. IV, No. 1
• Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, University of Tennessee Press (Austin, TX, 1979), page 76-77/figure 20
• Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), page 85/figure 91
• Sheila Blair, ed., Images of Paradise In Islamic Art, exh. cat., University of Tennessee Press (Austin, TX, 1991), page 74/8a
• Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Art and Architecture of Islam: 1250 - 1800 (New Haven, CT, 1994), 263, fig. 331
• Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, Islamic Arts, Phaidon Press (New York, NY, 1997), p 381 - 382, fig. 205
• John Renard, ed., Windows On the House of Islam: Muslim Sources On Spirituality and Religious Life, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1998), page 88/figure 17
• 40 Years On... Donations by John Goelet: Sculpture, Paintings and Drawings, Miniatures and Calligraphy, Tankas and Mandala, M. T. Train and Scala Books (New York, NY, 2000), page 75, 218
• Venetia Porter, ed., Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, British Museum Press (London, UK, 2012), p. 142, fig. 97.

Exhibition History

• Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, Asia House, 01/11/1979 - 03/11/1979; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 04/17/1979 - 05/27/1979; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 06/28/1979 - 08/12/1979; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 09/14/1979 - 10/28/1979
• Islamic Art and the Written Word, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/05/1983 - 11/27/1983
• The Here and the Hereafter: Images of Paradise in Islamic Art, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, 03/16/1991 - 05/26/1991; Asia Society Galleries, New York, 06/27/1991 - 09/06/1991; Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, 09/26/1991 - 12/15/1991; Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Springfield, 04/26/1992 - 06/21/1992
• The Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, British Museum, London, 01/26/2012 - 04/19/2012

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