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Manuscript/Mixed Material Anonymous Arabic and Persian poetic verses

About this Item

Title

  • Anonymous Arabic and Persian poetic verses

Created / Published

  • unknown

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Arabic and Persian verses of poems in nasta'liq script.
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: (including outside panels) 21.3 (w) x 30 (h) cm
  • -  Do not deprive me, / My God and Lord, / Of his great intercession, / For he is the only intercessor.
  • -  If you forgive me / Your forgiveness will save me / Otherwise I am damned / By the perishing sin.
  • -  My God, through the intercession / Of the Hashimite Prophet / And his holy family, / Resurrect me according to / The religion of Muhammad / In purity and humility.
  • -  The Arabic and Persian verses are executed in nasta'liq script, also known as ta'liq (in Turkey) and Farsi (in Arab lands). The term nasta'liq combines the scripts naskh (cursive) and ta'liq (hanging), a grouping of two scripts believed to have been invented by the 14th-century Persian calligrapher Mir 'Ali Tabrizi (Zakariya 1979, 30). It is a script that has been practiced from that time until today, so it is impossible to establish with certainty the date of this fragment. Nevertheless, this calligraphic fragment may have been produced in Persia (Iran) during the 16th century.
  • -  The Arabic poem stresses Muhammad's ability to provide intercession (shafa'ah) for his community on the Day of Judgement, a kind of praise or request directed towards the Prophet in a number of other calligraphic panels meant either for public display (Derman 2002: 226-27) or included in albums of calligraphies.
  • -  The center sheet of calligraphy consists of brown paper sprinkled with fine gold dust and contains five rough squares of gold leaf. The calligraphy panels are separated by gold lines outlined in black, forming rectangular frames for the Arabic verses. Around the central panel appears a pink border with floral designs executed in gold, followed by a light blue border with the twenty-eight panels of Persian verses interlaced with gold vine designs. These calligraphic sheets are all glued onto a tan laminated paper decorated with gold-painted flowers, birds, and plants.
  • -  This fragment contains an Arabic poem in eight verses in the center panel and Persian poetical verses contained in small rectangular registers arranged around the central panel and pasted above a light blue background. The Arabic poem reads as follows (Selim 1979, 165):
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-87-154.135

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 27.5 (w) x 38.9 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714477

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:

Anonymous Arabic and Persian poetic verses. [Unknown] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714477/.

APA citation style:

Anonymous Arabic and Persian poetic verses. [Unknown] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714477/.

MLA citation style:

Anonymous Arabic and Persian poetic verses. [Unknown] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714477/>.