Doek voor gebedssteen

1950

Prayer stone cloths. Embroidered cloth with mosque, minaret, prayer niche and flower motifs and a red voile attached to the back. At the sides and at the bottom there is a wide strip (5 and 4.5 cm. wide respectively) with floral motifs: round cores with eight petals, stems and leaves. The central motif, a mosque with several mosques in it, lies above the centre of the cloth. Prayer niches are depicted between the mosque and the flowers. Images of minarets and two hands (about 2 cm long) can also be found on the cloth.‖ The prayer stone cloths are used to hold the prayer stone (mohr or turba) used by Shiites. The prayer stone consists of baked clay from Kerbela. The prayer stones are kept wrapped in the cloths in the house or on the body. When praying one puts the prayer stone cloth on the prayer rug. Prayer cloths and stones are placed on the prayer rug in such a way that one touches the stone with one's forehead while bending over. The cloths may be used by any clean person. The cloths belong to the sacred objects; when they are worn out they are buried, so that they cannot be touched with the feet. The cloths may not be sold or used for any other purpose. Nevertheless, some use the cloths as wall decorations or pillowcases (Janata & Jawad 1983: 172-173).‖ The cloth is of cotton and the thread used to embroider is probably glossy cotton. The cotton cloth is machine-made, the same is probably true of the thread. The cloths are embroidered by women and girls. According to the literature, embroidering the motifs requires extraordinary skill (Janata & Jawad 1983: 173). It is difficult to determine what stitches are used in the embroidery. The stitches presumably used are: flat stitches (e.g. for tessellations), stitches (both for tessellations and for the hem) and running stitches (holbein designs).