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About this Item

Title

  • Levha

Names

  • Muzaffar 'Ali

Created / Published

  • 18th-19th centuries

Headings

  • -  Calligraphy, Arabic
  • -  Calligraphy, Ottoman
  • -  Calligraphy, Persian
  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Turkey
  • -  Arabic script calligraphy
  • -  Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
  • -  Islamic calligraphy
  • -  Islamic manuscripts
  • -  Nasta'liq

Notes

  • -  Ottoman calligraphic panels (qit'a), framed calligraphic inscription called a Levha in Ottoman Turkish, In Arabic. Written in Nasta'liq script and common to Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Persia.
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 23.8 (w) x 16.6 (h) cm
  • -  The text is executed in a large and beautiful nasta'liq script on a beige sheet of paper. The letters are surrounded by very light traces of cloud bands. The two lines of calligraphy are framed into two separate panels, provided with gold and colored frames, and pasted onto a pink cardboard for strengthening.
  • -  This calligraphic sheet states that "whoever writes the bismillah ("in the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful") in a beautiful writing enters Paradise without judgment." (Library of Congress 2001, 27). This saying is quite popular in Ottoman calligraphic panels (qit'a), as "good handwriting" (husn-i khatt) was considered an outward manifestation of the religious and moral values cultivated by calligraphers.
  • -  This kind of framed calligraphic inscription pasted onto a pasteboard is called a lawha (Arabic) or levha (Turkish), which means literally "tablet." These kinds of compositions pasted onto cardboards are typical of Ottoman calligraphic practices during the 18th-19th centuries (Safwat 1992: 142-143).
  • -  This panel includes a minute signature at the bottom center of the lowermost register. Although almost illegible today, it seems that the work was executed by a certain Mawlana Hasan (or Hamid) Hilli. To the left of the erased signature appears the name of Muzaffar 'Ali, who probably was responsible for claiming the piece as his own. This particular Muzaffar 'Ali remains unidentified, although he does share the same name as the famous painter-calligrapher who flourished during the reign of the Safavid Persian ruler Shah Tahmasp (d. 1576).
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-84-154.56

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 34 (w) x 25.7 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714526

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The contents of the Library of Congress Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions and are free to use and reuse.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, African and Middle East Division, Near East Section Persian Manuscript Collection

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Muzaffar 'Ali. Levha. 18th-19th Centuries. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714526/.

APA citation style:

Muzaffar 'Ali. Levha. 18th-19th Centuries. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714526/.

MLA citation style:

Muzaffar 'Ali. Levha. 18th-19th Centuries. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714526/>.