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Manuscript/Mixed Material Decorative borders

About this Item

Title

  • Decorative borders

Created / Published

  • 17th century

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Mughal style decorative borders with verses composed by the famous Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9). Written Nasta'liq script in the 17th Cent.
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: Recto: 11.4 (w) x 19.5 (h) cm. Dimensions of Written Surface: Verso: 13 (w) x 19.5 (h) cm
  • -  Hafiz warns of the transience and fickleness of this world (literally, an old hag or 'ajuza), and argues that those who imbibe the last dregs or essence (durd) of wine have the spiritual understanding of what is true and permanent.
  • -  I give you advice: learn it and do it / Because I remember that this (advice) came from the leader of my spiritual order. / Don't expect this unsteady world to be faithful / Because this old hag was a bride to a thousand husbands. / Go, devout one, and do not reprimand the drinkers.
  • -  Nasihati kunamat yadgir u dar 'amal an / Kain hadis za pir-i tariqatam yad ast / Maju durusti-yi 'ahd az jahan sust nahad / Kain 'ajuza 'arus-i hazar damad ast / Buru malamat-i durdi kashan makun zahid
  • -  The five verses written horizontally on the illuminated panel read:
  • -  The recto of this calligraphic fragment includes verses composed by the famous Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9), as well as a number of other verses framed in rectangular bands along the inner border of the central panel. Every line of calligraphy is cut out and pasted individually onto the fragment's illuminated background. The verses are framed by white and blue borders decorated with gold flower and leaf motifs, and pasted onto an orange paper painted in gold and provided with ornamental medallions containing pink and white flowers. This fragment's decoration, much like the pattern on the fragment's verso (1-88-154.41 V), is typical of Mughal book arts of the 17th century.
  • -  The verso of this fragment has a decorative border similar to the recto; however, the verso is devoid of text. The illuminated frame is pasted to a paper decorated with yellow flowers perhaps intended to represent blooming saffron flowers (although the petals of saffron flowers tend to be of a light purple color). This pattern of yellow-orange flowers appears on an otherwise unrelated calligraphic fragment in the Library of Congress (see 1-04-713.19.26), suggesting that both works may have originated from the same atelier. The latter work, the first page of a copy of Sa'di's Bustan, is believed to have been made in India during the 17th century.
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-88-154.41

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 25.1 (w) x 36.4 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714573

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:

Decorative Borders. 17th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714573/.

APA citation style:

Decorative Borders. 17th Century. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714573/.

MLA citation style:

Decorative Borders. 17th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714573/>.