Shiite Talismanic Pilgrimage Scroll

signed by Sayyad Muhammad Hasan Čishti

1787–88

opaque watercolour, black and red ink, and gold on paper; mounted on cloth backing

Aga Khan Museum

This is a long, narrow scroll with numerous intricate illustrations of buildings, geometric patterns, and text. The artwork is rendered in ink and watercolor with gold accents on paper. Further Reading Rendered on buff paper that has been backed with white cloth, the various sites, buildings, and floral compositions are all skilfully drawn and vibrantly painted in red, green, and yellow tones with black outlines. Many inscriptions [3] in red and black identify the sites and buildings or type of architectural elements depicted, such as a minaret, a mosque, or a pool.[4] The longer inscriptions are in Persian, together with passages from the Qur’an and prayers in Arabic. Portrayed in a two-dimensional, bird’s-eye view, architectural sites and buildings are divided into subsections resembling bento boxes a