A CHROMOLITHOGRAPHED PANORAMIC AERIAL VIEW OF THE MASJID AL-HARAM AND MECCA
Delhi, India, ca. 1900 - 1920

A CHROMOLITHOGRAPHED PANORAMIC AERIAL VIEW OF THE MASJID AL-HARAM AND MECCA
Delhi, India, ca. 1900 - 1920

Ink and printed colours on paper, presenting a panoramic aerial view of the sacred compound of the Masjid al-Haram with the black Ka'ba at its centre next to the Prophet's minbar (pulpit), reminiscent in style and outline of the hajj certificates released in Mecca, the most pious site for Muslim believers, the sacred enclosure featuring seven minarets on the external perimeter and a large marble gateway in front of the black stone, rocky landscape in the background, at the bottom the publication line in red in both English and Hindi reading "published by Hemchandra Bhargava Chandni Chowk, Delhi - Mecca", mounted, glazed and framed, 31.3cm x 41.2cm including the frame.

An interesting historical feature of this aerial view of Ka'ba is the presence of only seven minarets. Currently, the Muslim sacred site presents nine minarets, but since Sultan Murad IV's restoration in 1629 until the 1930s, only seven minarets were to be counted. This is very useful as it sets the terminus ante-quem this chromolithograph would have been produced.

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