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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Verses by Jami

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Hajji Yadigar al-Katib

CREATED/PUBLISHED
ca. 1600-1650

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.1 (w) x 18.9 (h) cm

Script: nasta'liq

This calligraphic fragment includes verses composed by the famous Persian poet Jami (d. 898/1492). In the top right corner, the text begins with the attribution of the verses to the master (makhdumi) poet and a request for (God's) forgiveness (al-maghfarah) and mercy (al-rahmah) upon Jami. The verses then describe how often true beauty is overlooked:

Basa ziba rukh-i niku shamayil / Ka suyash tab'-i mardum nist mayil / Basa luli vash-i shirin karashma / Ka rizad khun za dilha chasma chasma

How often there is a beautiful face with graceful ways / Who is not sought after by people / But how often a harlot with sweet winks / Causes the blood of hearts to pour out in gushes

In the lower right corner, the "lowly" (al-mudhnib) calligrapher Hajji Yadigar al-Katib has signed his work. As his name suggests, he must have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) and been a professional scribe (katib). He may be synonymous with a certain Yadigar Khwajah Samarqandi, who arrived in India and offered the Mughal ruler Jahangir (r. 1606-27) an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies, for which he received a robe of honor (Huart 1972, 169).

The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper. Framed by cloud bands, the text appears on a background lavishly decorated with gold painted vegetal designs highlighted in light blue and red dots. These motifs appear to support a 17th-century Central Asian or Mughal provenance.

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

MEDIUM
13 (w) x 21.5 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-88-154.149

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 201
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.201

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