LONDON - A rare 18th century painting of the footprints of the Prophet Muhammad, painted during the 18th century Ottoman Empire, will take center stage at British auction house Mullock’s on the 21st of May.

According to written and oral sources, Prophet Muhammad left imprints of his bare feet on a number of stones. Some of these footprints are preserved in situ, where they were left by the Prophet Muhammad, and other footprints were moved and later preserved in mosques, shrines, and tombs of prominent Muslim figures. Some of these footprints were collected and are now housed in the Topkopi Museum in Istanbul. A similar depiction of the Prophet’s footprints on an Iznik tile (18th century) is housed at the Benaki Islamic Museum in Greece.

Mullock’s auctioneer, Richard Westwood Brookes, said “the painting is of the finest quality and an extremely important piece of Islamic heritage.”