D’après la tradition familiale :

Don du roi d’Arabie Saoudite au père de l’actuel propriétaire, vers 1982-83

The production of luxurious metal-embroidered textiles on an annual basis to cover the Holy Ka'ba in Mecca was an important annual ceremony. It was a way for the custodians of the sacred city to illustrate their wealth and power and assert their authority in the region. During the Ottoman period the practise of sending textiles with the titles of the Sultan to Mecca became an almost standardised practice. The textiles themselves seem to have been produced mostly in Damascus or Cairo. In some years there were rival sets produced in both locations. 

This band takes the form of a hizam or 'belt' that would have been draped around the top of the Ka'ba, below which embroidered panels or kiswa would have been suspended. This band follows in the Ottoman tradition of making political gifts of presenting luxurious embroidered textiles to the custodians of Mecca. 

The form of this embroidered panel follows closely the Ottoman bands produced in the late 19th century. An example in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum (TSM 24/9) dated to the equivalent of 1890 and carrying a dedication to Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II (r.1876-1909) is executed in a very similar calligraphic style. (Tezcan 2017, cat. 67, p. 283). Hülya Tezcan notes that the calligrapher responsible for the inscription was Abdullah Zühdi who worked and lived in Medina for several years. Zühdi is then recorded as having travelled to Egypt where he produced the calligraphic template for a series of Ka'ba covers. It is likely that the design for the calligraphic inscription on this band originates from one of the templates produced by Zühdi while he was in Egypt. A similar hizam, made of midnight blue silk velvet, designed by 'Abdullah Zühdi, was presented at Sotheby's on October 8, 2008, lot 28. Two others were presented at Christie's on April 17, 2007, lot 19, and on April 26, 1994, lot 15.