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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Arabic prayer

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi (attr.)

CREATED/PUBLISHED
16th century

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 12.6 (w) x 4.7 (h) cm

Script: thuluth

This calligraphic panel includes a single line of Arabic text executed in black thuluth script. A simple prayer towards God, it reads:

Yakad yumasikuhu 'irfan rahatihi rukn al-hatim / The grasping of God (al-hatim) brings the knowledge of His comfort.

The line of text is executed on beige paper and outlined in a cloud band on a gold background. It also is provided with a number of colored frames and is pasted to a larger sheet of orange paper backed by cardboard. The lower left corner of the line of text contains a square seal impression with the barely legible names: 'abduhu (his servant) Muhsin (or Muhyi) al-Musavi and the date 1154/1741-2. Above the line of text and in the center of the green frame appears a minute a posteriori inscription, which reads: khatt-i marhum 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, shahir bi-Mawlana 'Alabeg ast ("the handwriting of the deceased 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, who is known as Mawlana 'Alabeg").

'Ala al-Din Tabrizi was a calligrapher active during the reign of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76), for whom he executed royal decrees (firmans). He executed a number of inscriptions placed on buildings in the cities Tabriz, Karbalah, and Qazvin (Safwat 1996: 84-88 and cat. no. 43, and 134-5, cat. no. 65; Huart 1972, 103; and Qadi Ahmad 1959, 79).

Although the later inscription attributes the specimen to 'Ala' al-Din, it is unclear whether this Arabic prayer indeed was written by the great Safavid master calligrapher.

SUBJECT
Arabic script calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Thuluth
Arabic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy

MEDIUM
33 (w) x 23 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-89-154.183

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 229
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.229

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