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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Letter exercises

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Mir 'Imad al-Hasani

CREATED/PUBLISHED
early 17th century

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 17.6 (w) x 31.7 (h) cm

Script: nasta'liq

This calligraphic practice sheet includes a number of diagonal words and letters written in the common Persian cursive script nasta'liq. Letters are used in combinations, sometimes yielding fanciful agglutinates and other times real words, facing upwards and downwards on the folio. The script is executed in brown ink on a cream colored background, framed by a blue border and pasted onto a sheet decorated with interlacing vines and flowers.

These kinds of sheets -- known as siyah mashq (literally, black practice) in Persian -- were entirely covered with writing as a means to practice calligraphy and conserve paper. As an established genre, practice sheets abided to certain rules of formal compositions, largely guided by rhythm and repetition (Safwat 1996, 32). In time, they became collectible items and thus were signed and dated. Many fragments such as this one were provided with a variety of decorative borders and pasted to sheets ornamented with plants or flowers painted in gold.

This particular siyah mashq is signed in the corner by a famous Iranian master of nasta'liq script, Mir ‘Imad al-Hasani (d. 1024/1615). He has signed his name "‘Imad" four times in a playful gesture emulating the repetitive nature of the practice sheet itself. Like this fragment, a number of siyah mashq sheets executed at the turn of the 17th century by ‘Imad al-Hasani were preserved and provided with illumination by Muhammad Hadi ca. 1160-1172/1747-1759 (Akimushkin 1996: 65, 70, 87, and 91). This particular siyah mashq thus shows how a master of calligraphy practiced his craft during the Safavid period in Persia (Iran).

A number of other siyah mashq sheets are held in the Library of Congress. See in particular 1-84-154.44, 1-84-154.46, 1-85-154.88, 1-86-154.144, 1-87-154.45, and 1-87-154.142.

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

MEDIUM
28.2 (w) x 40.5 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-84-154.43

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 091
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.091

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