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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy

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Prayer (du'a) for a king

AUTHOR/CREATOR
Calligrapher: Kamal al-Din (Ikhtiyar al-Munshi)

CREATED/PUBLISHED
ca. 1500-1550

NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 12.5 (w) x 22.1 (h) cm

Script: tarassul

This calligraphic fragment includes a prayer in Arabic for a King (and his many honorific epithets). The top panel reproduces exactly the lower panel, suggesting that a pounce or stencil was used for these two calligraphic replicas. Both panels are individually cut out, provided with a separating horizontal line and an illuminated border, and are pasted to a green sheet of paper decorated with flecks of gold and backed by cardboard.

Both panels also are executed in a version of the "hanging" ta'liq script called tarassul, in which letters such as the alif (a) and the lam (l) are connected by large looping ligatures. The letters themselves are not filled in with ink: rather, they are outlined in gold on the beige paper. For this reason, the calligrapher Kamal al-Din has noted in the lower right corner of the upper calligraphic panel that he has outlined (hararahu), rather than written (e.g., katabahu, raqamahu) the composition. Kamal al-Din's nickname (laqab), Ikhtiyar al-Munshi ("the Elderly Secretary"), also appears in gold outlined script in the lower right corners of both calligraphic panels, in which he states that he also wrote (mashaqahu) the composition. Therefore, Kamal al-Din was responsible both for the writing and the outlining of the composition.

Kamal al-Din Husayn (d. 974/1566-7) was a calligrapher during the reign of the Safavid ruler, Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76). The monarch supported his work in Tabriz and offered him a number of rewards, which Kamal al-Din refused. He also made him his personal secretary and bestowed upon him the honorific epithet "the Elderly, Royal Secretary" (Ikhtiyar al-Munshi al-Sultani). Even though he was blind in one eye, he was a master of all calligraphic scripts, especially nasta'liq (Huart 1972, 232). Judging from this specimen -- as well as others in the Library of Congress (1-04-713.19.36) and the Sackler Gallery of Art (29.63 and 29.64) -- he also was a master of outlined tarassul.

He was a contemporary of Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri, one of whose works is held in the collections of the Library of Congresss (1-87-154.155).

SUBJECT
Arabic calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Tarassul
Arabic script calligraphy

MEDIUM
21.5 (w) x 33.5 (h) cm

CALL NUMBER
1-87-154.157

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

DIGITAL ID
ascs 177
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.177

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