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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
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Various verses of poetry
AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri
CREATED/PUBLISHED
ca. 1500-1550
NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 21.5 (w) x 32.3 (h) cm
Script: nasta'liq
This calligraphic page includes a number of verses of poetry in the central text area and in the many rectangular panels forming borders. In the main, central text area appears an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, written in diagonal. The verses solicit borrowed grandeur and read:
Kamkara nistam yara ka pish-i hazratat / Shima-yi zhirr za hal bi-nava'i ha kunam / Layk daram iltimas-i khil'at-i pakiza / Ta bapusham nadz-i mardum khud nama'iha kunam
Oh Friend, I am not successful compared to you / I appear small and indigent / Nonetheless, I beg (of you) a clean robe / So that I can wear (it) and show off in front of people
In the lower left corner of the panel containing the ruba'i, the "servant" (al-'abd) Shah Mahmud has stated that he wrote this specimen (katabahu). The calligrapher Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri (d. 972/1564-5 in Mashhad) was one of the most celebrated masters of nasta'liq script active during the reign of the Safavid king Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76) in Tabriz. His beautiful handwriting earned him the nickname "Golden Pen" (Zarrin Qalam) and he was a poet in his own right (Qadi Ahmad 1959: 135-138). A number of calligraphic fragments (qit'as) signed by him are held in international collections (see, for example, Safwat 1996, cat. no. 63; and Sackler Gallery of Art no. 37.35 a-b).
Verses immediately surrounding the main panel of text are individually cut out and pasted so as to create a textual frame, while verses in the rectangular panels contained on the outermost salmon-colored border are executed directly on the sheet of paper. For this reason, it is possible that these verses were not executed by Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri. Rather, they may have been added by a different calligrapher or album compiler at a later date. All text panels have been pasted to a larger blue sheet, backed by cardboard, decorated with flowers and plants painted in gold.
SUBJECT
Poetry
Nasta'liq
Arabic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Arabic script calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
MEDIUM
27.4 (w) x 38.7 (h) cm
CALL NUMBER
1-87-154.155
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540
DIGITAL ID
ascs 174
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.174
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