A DEVOTIONAL REVERSE GLASS PAINTING OF KA'BA AND THE MASJID AL-HARAM IN MECCA
Possibly Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India, ca. 1900 - 1930

Opaque pigments, ink, polychrome enamels, white wash and gold on glass, the horizontal composition presenting an aerial view of the sacred encampment of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca with the black stone of Ka'ba and a tall minbar (pulpit) in the centre, rocky landscape in the background, the Great Mosque featuring only seven minarets, set within a floral frame with rosette sprays and foliage against a brick-red ground, mounted and framed, 52cm x 61.5cm including the frame.

Reverse glass painting is a fascinating pictorial artistic production, which started flourishing in both the Indian and Iranian lands around the mid-19th century. Often overlooked and classified as 'folk' art with more ethnographic than art historical value, this genre was never studied in depth. Nevertheless, it was widely practiced and Kolkata in India was a major centre of production.

An interesting historical feature of this aerial view of Ka'ba is the presence of only seven (rather than nine) minarets. Indeed, before 1629, the Masjid al-Haram only had four minarets, but after a period of heavy rains and flash floods in 1621 and then again in 1629, the walls of Ka'ba and the mosque suffered extensive damage and required restoration. In 1629, the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV undertook a large project of renovation featuring the addition of a new stone arcade, three more minarets (bringing the total to seven), and the retiling of the marble flooring. This appearance would remain almost unaltered for nearly three centuries, leading us to suggest a pre-1930 dating for the present depiction.