| 1. Exhibition label :: Porter Seals Catalogue :: Chalcedony, white. Heart-shaped, flat top and base with straight sides. Cursive inscriptions in concentric bands following the outline of the stone. It is dated [1]161/1748.
centre
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم و ان يكاد الذين كفروا
ليزلقونك بابصارهم لما سمعوا الذكر ويقولون
انه المجنون وما هو الا ذكر للعالمين
inner margin
الله لا اله الا هو الحي القيوم لا تاخذه سنة ولا نوم له ما في
السموات وما في الارض من ذا الذي يشفع عنده الا باذنه يعلم
مابين ايديهم و ما خلفهم ولا يحيطون بشيء من علمه الا بما شاء
وسع كرسيه السموات والارض و لا يؤده حفظهما و هو العالي العظيم ١٦١[١]
outer margin
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم اللهم صل على المصطفى محمد و المرتضى علي و البتول
فاطمه والسبطين الحسن و الحسين و صل على زين العباد علي و الباقر محمد و
الصادق جعفر و الكاظم موسى و الرضا علي و التقي محمد والنقي علي و الزكي
العسكري الحسن و صل على الامام الهمام محمد المهدي عليه و عليهم السلام
Centre:
Basmala. ‘Those who are ungrateful almost disconcert you with their glances when they have haeard the reminder. They say ‘He is posessed’. It is nothing but a reminder for all beings’ (Qur’an 68:51-2, Jones 2007:533)
Inner margin:
‘God. There is no god but Him, the Living, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep seize Him. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth. Who is there who intercedes with Him, save by His permission ? He knows what is before them and what is after them,while they encompass none of His knowledge apart from that which He wishes. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He is not tired of guarding them. He is the Exalted and the Mighty’ (Qurʼān 2: 255, Jones 2007:58-9). . Above al-ʻaẓīm, letter hāʼ (Hijra) 161
Outer margin:
Basmala. O God ! Bless the Chosen Muḥammad and the Accepted ʻAlī and the Virgin Fāṭima, and the two Gentle ones al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, and bless the ornament of the servants of God ʻAlī and the Great Muḥammad, and the Just Jaʻfar, and the Silent Mūsā, and the Pleasing ʻAlī and the Pious Muḥammad, and the Pure ʻAlī, and the Virtuous the Soldier al-Ḥasan and bless the Highminded imam Muḥammad al-Mahdī, on him and on them be peace
The Prophet Muḥammad and his daughter Fāṭima and the twelve Shīʻa imams and their attributes. The alif of al-Zakī doubles up as the lam of ʻAlī.
(For an amulet in the Walter’s Art Gallery in Baltimore which bears the same date see Blair 2002, where the inscriptions, which include verses from the Qurʼān and the names of the Fourteen Immaculates, are discussed as well as the political context of the Afsharid period on Iran during which the amulet was made).
58 × 42 × 6 mm
1866 12–29 101 (Reinaud 1828, vol. 2: 101, no. 87; Blair 2002: 90) | 