"A Talismanic Shirt (Jama), Indian Early 20th century" A ...

Hammer

£4,000

"A Talismanic Shirt (Jama),
Indian
Early 20th century"


A talismanic cotton shirt (Jama), bearing the complete text of the Qur’an, written in black ghubari script, with an intricate lattice pattern, interlinked with red, blue and gold roundels, each adorned with delicate flowerheads, the shoulders featuring clusters of similar roundels inscribed with the words “ya Allah”, “ya Hafiz”, and “ya Fatih” in gold; within each lattice rectangle, a single verse encircled in gold and adorned with polychromatic elements at its centre, the surah headings presented in blue on gold panels; two prominent roundels interrupting the pattern throughout the lattice, bearing the shahada in elongated gold Bihari script against a red and blue background, each section bordered by a wide band displaying the 99 names of God, also written in the same elegant bold Buhari script, names set against a backdrop of pink, red and blue dots on a hatched ground