Estimated at £800-1200, it sold to an online buyer for £13,000 at Dreweatts (25% buyer's premium) in Newbury on August 12.
Pieces such this were made as tomb covers. Within an embroidered pointed archway and acanthus columns are two quranic inscriptions and a cartouche reading Oh Prophet of God! our Lord Sultan Ahmad seeks intercessions. This is the Prophet’s mihrab.
It may be that this 7ft 9in x 6ft 8in (2.35 x 2.03m) panel had once decorated the interior of the shrine of the Prophet in Medina and would have been replaced when a new Ottoman sultan ascended to the throne.
Ahmed III succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother and he himself was deposed in 1730.
Although the winning bid was well above printed expectations, this hanging had been bought by the owner at Bonhams in October 2007 when the price (including buyer’s premium) was a much more substantial £60,000.
Two other textile panels with similar architectural details and inscriptions, which decorated the tomb of the prophet Ibrahim in Mecca, were sold at Sotheby's in 2006 and Christie's in 2005.
