Islamic Relic Print The Black Stone of Mecca, 1863 Dutch Lithograph This fascinating lithograph titled “De Zwarte Steen” (The Black Stone) presents a rare and detailed 19th-century European rendering of one of Islam’s most sacred relics: the Black Stone embedded in the Kaaba at Mecca. Composed with meticulous pointillist precision, the image shows the famed object in its encasement, revealing its fragmented, oval form composed of several dark pieces surrounded by a silver frame. It offers a remarkably close-up and accurate visualization, uncommon in Western print culture of the time, particularly given the general inaccessibility of Mecca to non-Muslims during that period.