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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
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Verses by Hilali
AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Mir 'Ali and Sultan Bayazid
CREATED/PUBLISHED
ca. 1500-1550
NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 13.3 (w) x 22.1 (h) cm
Script: nasta'liq
This calligraphic fragment includes three distinct text panels all executed in nasta'liq script: one written in black ink on blue paper, another in white ink on beige paper with two illuminated triangles (or thumb pieces) in the upper and lower corners, and a third (lowermost horizontal) written in black ink on beige paper. All three panels were cut out and placed together, provided with a gold frame, and pasted to a larger sheet of paper decorated with flecks of gold.
The blue text panel includes verses composed by the mystical poet Hilali (d. 936/1529-30), whose name appears in the upper left triangular corner. The other two text panels contain prayers for a king, wishing him glory and health, composed in the poetic format known as tarji-band (in between each stanza with a different rhyme appears a single hemistich with its own rhyme).
The panel executed in white ink on the top left is signed in the lower left corner by the calligrapher Mir 'Ali. This famous Persian calligrapher, whose full name was Mir 'Ali Heravi (d. 951/1544-5), 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). He not only was a master calligrapher, but was a poet in his own right, having composed a number of sample verses (qit'as) in honor of his patrons.
The text executed in black on blue paper is signed by another calligrapher, Sultan Bayazid (d. 986/1578). He was a respected pupil of Mir 'Ali. The master considered him his spiritual son and even calligraphed certain pieces for him, signing his name and making a note that the piece was for his "illustrious son, Sultan Bayazid" (Huart 1972, 233).
It appears that this calligraphic piece attempts to highlight the close master-pupil relationship by pasting together their works onto a single album page.
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, 1-87-154.159, 1-88-154.65, and 1-90-154.180.
SUBJECT
Arabic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Arabic script calligraphy
Nasta'liq
MEDIUM
21.5 (w) x 33.5 (h) cm
CALL NUMBER
-87-154.158
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540
DIGITAL ID
ascs 178
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.178
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