Heirloom

A rare Qajar pictorial Kashan, likely Mohtasham school, depicting the Sufi figure Nūr ʿAlī Shāh.

What makes this piece especially compelling is the inscriptional border, which identifies the central image and frames it as a protective devotional portrait. A working translation of the verse reads:

“Whoever beholds your image upon this small carpet is delivered from the troubles of the world, safe from the evil eye, and sheltered beneath the protection of the saintly Shah.”

The rug is both portrait and talisman: a finely woven devotional image where poetry, protection, and Sufi reverence are brought together in fine wool.

nuralishah