A Ka'aba cover, c.1900

Source: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/search/LotDetail.asp?sid=&intObjectID=4483352&SE=CMWCAT03+629102+1904059171+&QR=M+1+47+Aqc0000900+611718++Aqc0000900+&entry=islamic&T=Lot&SU=1&RQ=True&AN=48
(downloaded Apr. 2005)

"A CURTAIN OF THE INTERNAL TAWBAH DOOR OF THE KA'BA, WITH THE NAMES OF SULTAN ABDULHAMID II AND 'ABBAS HILMI PASHA, CIRCA AH 1309-1327/1892-1909 AD. Of rectangular form, the black silk ground embroidered with heavy silver and silver-gilt thread with additional coloured silk panels in some areas, the lower half a square panel with cartouche on yellow silk arranged as three lines of inscription containing the dedication to 'Abbas Hilmi Pasha, governor of Egypt, the interstices filled with scrolling vegetal ornament, above this five rows of inscription on alternating blue and yellow silk, the top four with Qur'anic verse (surat al-anaam v.54), the lowest with a dedication to Sultan Abdulhamid II, the whole surrounded by a border of stylized paired split-palmettes and blue roundels containing gold and silver flowerheads, silver thread slightly oxidized, slight tears in silk, conserved, rebacked, with collapsible stretcher. 99½ x 50¾in. (255 x 130cm.)

Lot Notes:  The upper part of the inscription over four consecutive rows contains text from Qur'an VI surat al-anaam v.54.
A fifth row reads 'This honoured cover was ordered to be made by our supreme lord, 'Abd al-Hamid Khan, may Allah support him, Amen'.

The inscription in the cartouche is as follows: 'Our great lord, 'Abbas Hilmi Pasha, the Khedive of guarded Egypt and son of the late Muhammad Tawfik Pasha, may Allah bless him, has refurbished this honoured curtain'.

Bab al-Tawba (The Door of Repentance) is a small door inside the Ka'ba that leads to a marble staircase up to the roof of the structure, and has its own embroidered curtain, changed every few years.

The present piece, giving the names of both the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II (r. AH 1293-1327/1876-1909 AD) and the 'Abbas Hilmi Pasha, ruler of Egypt (r. AH 1309-1333/1892-1914 AD), can thus be dated between the years AH 1309-1327/1892-1909 AD."