A LARGE GREEN HARDSTONE INTAGLIO WITH A HADITH FROM IMAM REZA AND ITS POUCH
Possibly Mashhad, Iran, 20th century

A LARGE GREEN HARDSTONE INTAGLIO WITH A HADITH FROM IMAM REZA AND ITS POUCH
Possibly Mashhad, Iran, 20th century

In the shape of a lobed cartouche, one side heavily engraved with two dense epigraphic bands of religious content in naskh script both in the centre and around the edges, in the middle a decorative frieze with rosette sprays, foliage, and birds, the engraving filled with gold paste, the back plain, 10cm x 12.5cm; and the accompanying pouch folded to form a square envelope, the black cotton ground profusely worked in beaten gold tape (golabetoon) with a starburst design around a double-layered central flower, the branches with floral stems and flowerheads in pink and red silks, infilled with green and pink silk leaf motifs, edged with a row of small metal thread circles and red and pink spacers, within a chevron narrow black and silver band, interlined in indigo cotton, 16cm x 16cm, 11.5cm x 11.5cm when folded.

Inscriptions:

Top panel: Sura as-Saff (61), part of aya 13.

External band: Sura al-Baqarah (2), Ayat al-Kursi (v. 255)

Central medallion: a Hadith from the 8th Shi'a Saint, Imam Reza, guaranteeing a place in heaven to those pious souls who visit the shrine of his sister, Fatemeh Massoumeh in Qom.

(Quantity:1)

Dimensions: The intaglio 10cm x 12.5cm