17TH CENTURY

Ardabil, Persia

24 Cm.across

Indeed, Allah showers His blessings upon the Prophet, and His angels pray for him. O believers! Invoke Allah’s blessings upon him, and salute him with worthy greetings of peace.

إِنَّ اللهَ وَ مَلائِکَتَهُ یُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِیّ

Surah Ahzab Verse 56.

Indeed, Allah showers His blessings upon the Prophet, and His angels pray for him. O believers! Invoke Allah’s blessings upon him, and salute him with worthy greetings of peace.

Technically, steel panels of this type required great skill to make. First, a master scribe would have copied the inscription on paper and transferred it to the steel utilizing a stencil or pounce.The metalworker would

then needed to capture the elegance of the calligraphy with what was a cumbersome set of tools – something he performed with the utmost skill. Steel being primarily used for weapons; the maker was likely a sword-smith trained in the discipline of cutting and forging pattern-welded steel. Esin Atil, when writing about

a similar panel exhibited in ‘The Unity of Islamic Art’ writes that “steel reached a peak of decorative perfection under the Safavids in the 16th and 17th centuries” (Esin Atil, The Unity of Islamic Art,

Acquired From European Private Collection

Comes with a certificate from the Art Loss Register