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Quatrain on the virtue of patience

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri

CREATED/PUBLISHED
18th century

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.3 (w) x 20.5 (h) cm

Script: nasta'liq

This calligraphic fragment includes an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, on the need for endurance. The verses read:

Raftam bi-tabib guftam az ghayat-i dard / Bimari-yi 'ishq-ra cha mibayad kard / Khun-i jigar ab-i dida sharbat farmud / Guftam ka ghaza guft jigar bayad kard

I went to the doctor, asked about my severe pain / (And) what could he do for my lovesickness / He ordered as a drink the blood of liver and water of the eye / I said: "What kind of food (is that)?," and he answered: "You must eat liver."

The doctor recommends his lovesick patient to endure (literally, "eat liver" or jigar khwurdan) the pains of love, as there is no medicinal potion that will cure him.

The verses are written diagonally in nasta'liq script in white ink on a light brown paper. The calligrapher Muhammad Muhsin has signed his work (raqamahu, or "has written it") in the lower left corner. On the verso of this fragment appears a later note in English attributing the work to a certain "Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri." He can be identified as Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri, who may have have formed part of a group of calligraphers active in Lahore during the 18th century that included 'Abdallah Lahuri (1-04-713.19.43) and Muhammad Zahir Lahuri (1-04-713.19.40). After the death of Aurangzeb (d. 1707), Mughal power was decentralized and royal patronage of calligraphy declined. The rise of new styles emerged in cities like Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Lahore, where calligraphers active in the nasta'liq script such as Muhammad Muhsin sought out patronage from local rulers.

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

MEDIUM
22.3 (w) x 35.3 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-04-713.19.52

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 047
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.047

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