Fragment of a Standard ('Alam)

This fragment is the right half of a pear-shaped steel standard which would have been originally framed by a twisted steel cord ending in a pair of outward-facing dragon heads. The form echoes one of the many types depicted in battle paintings from the sixteenth century royal manuscript of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. Standards from this period have pierced scrolling vegetal designs and talismanic inscriptions. Here, the inscriptions are Shi’i in tone and include the Nad-i ʿAliyyun, a prayer calling on Imam ʿAli for protection against harm, as well as Qur’anic verses from suras 112 (The Sincerity) and 68 (The Pen). In Shi’i communities such standards were also carried in Muharram processions commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Husain, the third Shi’ite Imam, at the battle of Kerbala in 680 A.D.