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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Quatrain on separation

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: 'Abdallah (Isfahani)

CREATED/PUBLISHED
16th century

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 9 (w) x 16.8 (h) cm

Script: nasta'liq

This calligraphic fragment includes an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, that uses hyperbolic expressions to describe the all-consuming affection and pain of separation from a loved one:

Gar daham sharh-i arizumandi / atash andar nay-yi qalam girad / Var za bar-i firaq guyam baz / Qamat-i nuh sipihr kham girad

If I were to write an explanation of (my) wishes / A fire would burn up the reed of (my) pen, / And if I were to speak again of the burden of separation / The (upright) shape of the nine skies would hunch over.

The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script on a beige sheet of paper. The text panel is framed by three borders decorated with a variety of gold decorative motifs and is pasted to a light brown paper backed by cardboard.

In the lower left corner, the text is signed by the poor (al-faqir) 'Abdallah, who asks forgiveness from God. Although the calligrapher is not identified any further here, a later note in English on the fragment's verso attributes the piece to a certain "'Abdallah Isfahani Mishkin Qalam." This calligrapher is not well known, but his nisbah (place name) Isfahani indicates that he was originally from the city of Isfahan in Iran. His nickname "Musk-Black Pen" (Mishkin Qalam) is typical of a number of calligraphers as well. 'Abdallah Isfahani seems to have belonged to the school of calligraphers in the nasta'liq style active in 16th-century Isfahan, the capital of Safavid Persia. Chief among these appears Mir 'Imad -- perhaps one of 'Abdallah's contemporaries -- whose calligraphies are well attested to in the collections of the Library of Congress (1-84-154.3, 1-84-154.43, 1-85-154.72, 1-85-154.77, 1-87-154.160, 1-90-154.162).

SUBJECT
Islamic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Arabic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Nasta'liq
Arabic script calligraphy

MEDIUM
24 (w) x 36 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-04-713.19.41

REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540

DIGITAL ID
ascs 035
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.035

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