Isfahan Silk Prayer Rug, MirzaMakhdumSharifi and the Position of Mecca's Chief Justice

On October 7، 2009 a silk prayer rug from Safavid era was introduced and sold in London Sotheby’s auction. This prayer rug is known as the second highest-price rug which has been sold in this international auction. In the auction catalogue،this prayer rug has cautiously been dated back to Shah Abbas I period. Nonetheless، reviewing the text of this prayer rug and its textual and artistic signs and evaluating them against historical documents reveal other facts. This article studies the characteristics of this prayer rug and reviews its textual and artistic signs. Moreover، it introducesthe reason and socio-political background which resulted in its knitting. The result of this article reveals that this prayer rug had been knitted upon the order of MirzaMakhdumSharifi، the minister of Shah Ismail II، and it speaks of his seeking refuge to Ottoman Empire and his appointment as the Mecca’s Chief Justice.