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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy


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Three bayts (verses) to a loved one

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Mir 'Ali al-Katib

CREATED/PUBLISHED
ca. 1500-1550

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.2 (w) 18.5 (h) cm

Script: nasta'liq

This calligraphic fragment includes three bayts (verses) of poetry in the main text panel and ten verses of poetry around this panel, creating a "textual" frame decorated with gold vine and leaf motifs. The entirety of the calligraphic piece is pasted to a paper decorated with blue geometric and vegetal motifs highlighted in gold.

The central text panel is topped by an illuminated rectangular panel and includes a decorative triangle in the upper left corner. The verses in the central panel are written in nasta'liq script on a white ground decorated with gold painted flowers. The verses read:

Bi-ka'ba rah cha nama'i ka ka'ba-yi khana-yi tu-st / Harim-i ka'ba-yi man khak-i astana-yi tu-st / Fusun-i chasm-i tu bigirift mulk-i dilha-ra / Miyan-i mardum-i ‘alam kanun fisana-yi tu-st / Khayal-i la'l-i tu az dil burun chaguna baram / Ka bar khizana-yi dil daghha nishana za tu-st

Why set out to the Ka'ba when the Ka'ba is your home? / The Sacred Enclosure of my Ka'ba is the threshold to your soil. / The bewitchment of your eye captures the territory of hearts, / Now all the people of the world tell your story. / How can I bring out from (my) heart the imagination of your garnet (lips)? / Because in the treasury of the heart there are many marks of you.

By drawing on the imagery of Mecca, the Ka'ba, and its Sacred Enclosure (harim), the poet describes his affection of his beloved's eyes and lips as a pilgrimage into his heart.

The verses are signed by the writer (al-katib) Mir 'Ali [Heravi] (d. 951/1544-5). A master calligrapher in the nasta'liq style, Mir 'Ali was active in the city of Herat (modern-day Afghanistan) during the 16th century until he was taken to Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan) in 935/1528-9 by the Shaybanid ruler 'Ubaydallah Khan Uzbek (Qadi Ahmad 1959: 126-131).

Other calligraphic fragments written by, or attributed to, Mir 'Ali are held in the collections of the Library of Congress. See, for example, 1-04-713.19.38, 1-87-154.158, 1-88-154.65, and 1-90-154.180.

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

MEDIUM
21.9 (w) x 32.8 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-87-154.159

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 179
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.179

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