Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
16th-17th centuries, Persian verses by Baba Tahir, 11th-century Persian poet, written in black nasta'liq script in the 16th- or 17th- century Iran.
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 13 (w) x 21 (h) cm
- I am that ant which is crushed underfoot / Not the bee from whose sting they suffer
- Man u murum ka dar payam bamaland / Na zanburum ka az nasham banaland
- Other Persian verses appear both above and below the central panel, and in the left vertical a register contains an elaborate prose prayer (du'a) wishing a king prosperity and happiness.
- The fragment is neither dated nor signed. However, it appears to have been produced in 16th- or 17th- century Iran and placed later into an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies.
- The texts are executed in black nasta'liq script on variously colored papers decorated with designs in gold paint, cut out individually and pasted together into one composition. Triangular areas left empty by the intersection of diagonal lines of text and rectangular frames are filled with blue and gold illumination. The whole text panel is pasted to a larger sheet of cream-colored paper decorated with gold flecks and backed with cardboard.
- This calligraphic fragment includes various excerpts in both prose and verse. In the central blue panel, verses by the 11th-century Persian poet Baba Tahir describe his helplessness and inferiority:
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
16th-17th centuries, From Nizami's classic book "Khamsah" (Quintet) the tale of "Khusraw va Shirin" Illuminated manuscript from Iran written in Nast'aliq script.
- Above and below the composition appear the attending verses written in black nasta'liq script in four columns. The text is framed by cloud bands and appears on a gold background decorated with blue and red flowers. The entire text and painting panel is framed by variously colored borders and is pasted to a larger sheet of cream-colored paper.
- Another painting from another manuscript of Nizami's "Khusraw va Shirin" is held in the collections of the Library of Congress. It depicts King Khusraw in battle (see 1-87-154.124 R & V).
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 12 (w) x 21 (h) cm
- On the verso the text is written in black nasta'liq script in four columns and separated by gold gutters decorated with black dots. An illuminated chapter heading in the center of the text panel includes the title of the section, in which Khusraw and Shirin sit together. The text panel is framed by variously colored borders and is pasted to a larger sheet of cream-colored paper.
- The painting follows the text very closely by depicting Shirin and her attendants still in the pavilion and King Khusraw killing the lion with his bare hands. The painting's style resembles manuscripts produced for the market in Iran during the 16th and 17th centuries. The verso of this page describes Khusraw's killing of the lion.
- The text's layout and the painting's style (on the recto) are found in manuscripts produced for the market in Iran during the 16th and 17th centuries.
- This painting depicts an episode from the third book of Nizami's "Khamsah" (Quintet) entitled "Khusraw va Shirin". In this book, the adventures and battles of the Persian king Khusraw are described, as is his love for the Armenian princess Shirin. At a feast one day, Khusraw and Shirin were sitting and drinking together (as described on the folio's verso, 1-04-713.19.2 V) when suddenly a lion approached the royal pavilion. Thereupon, the king, albeit drunk, made a fist, hit the lion in the ear, and killed it on the spot.
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
1550-1600, "Khusraw va Shirin" from the Nizami's Khamsah, Shirazi style Safavid Persian illuminated manuscript in Nasta'liq script.
- At the beginning of each book (kitab) of the "Khamsah", the author praises God and His Unity (typically entitled dar tawhid, or "On Unity"). This first section is then followed, as seen on this folio, by examining the proof (istidlal) of God's presence and praising the Exalted Creator (dar munajat-i Bari ta'ala).
- Dimensions of Written Surface: Recto: 12.2 (w) x 21 (h) cm. Dimensions of Written Surface: Verso: 12 (w) x 21.7 (h) cm
- Nine other folios from the same manuscript -- mostly initial and terminal folios of the various books (kitab) from the "Khamsah", as well as one painting from the story of Laylah wa Majnun -- are held in the Library of Congress as well. These bear the same nasta'liq script at 20 lines in 4 columns/page within a similar written surface size of ca. 12 (w) x 21 (h) cm. The folios are: 1-85-154.1a R & V, 1-85-154.1b R & V, 1-85-154.2a R & V, 1-85-154.2b V, and 1-86-154.123 R (painting) & V.
- The illumination, text layout, and nasta'liq script are typical of manuscripts made in the city of Shiraz during the second half of the 16th century. Many Safavid Persian manuscripts at this time were produced for the domestic market and international export, rather than by royal commission.
- The story of "Khusraw va Shirin" narrates the love relationship of the last great Sasanian ruler, Khusraw Parviz (590-628 A.D.) and his beautiful mistress Shirin. Many of the episodes in this story revolve around the complications caused by the king's ruses and his mistress' strength and faithfulness. Exceptionally understanding of women's personalities, there is no doubt that the personality of Shirin was based on Nizami's own wife (for the story of "Khusraw va Shirin" see "P. Chelkowski et al, Mirror of the Invisible World: Tales from the Khamseh of Nizami" [New York, 1975]: 21-48).
- This illuminated folio contains the introductory praise to God and His Unity (dar tawhid-i Bari, or "On the Unity of the Creator") of Nizami's second book of his "Khamsah" (Quintet), entitled "Khusraw va Shirin". It continues the text of the first two folios of the book, also located in the Library of Congress (1-84-154.2a R & V), and thus completes the praise of God typically found at the beginning of each book (kitab) of the "Khamsah".
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
18th century, A friend's letter written in a fine shikastah-nasta'liq script typical of 18th-century compositions from Iran.
- Because it's been a very long time / That I haven't (been able) to write a worthy letter, / Because a friend among friends wants to write to / Kind people to find out how they are doing...
- Chun muddat-i mutanahi-st / Ka bi-tahriri ka qabil bashad napardakht / Chun az an dusti az dustan bi-jihat-i kasan-i / Muhabbat tu'aman juya-yi ahvalat farmud...
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.2 (w) x 16.6 (h) cm
- This calligraphic fragment provides an incomplete letter from a man to his friend written in a fine shikastah-nasta'liq script typical of 18th-century compositions from Persia (Iran). Framed by cloud bands and placed on a gold background with blue vine motifs, the text is comprised of four lines. Beginning with an invocation to God ("huwa," or He) in the top right corner, the letter continues:
- Script: shikastah-nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
early 17th century, Quatrain praising vision written in Nasta'liq script by the writer (al-katib) Mas'ud al-Tabib who traveled through, Iran, Afghanistan to India.
- Dil jaya gham u dida makan-i gawhar ast / Ya'ni gawhar-i vasl-i tu dar chasm tar ast / Dar dil gham u dar dida khayal-i tu dar ast / Zan ruy za dil dida am abadtar ast
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 15.9 (w) cm x 24.5 (h) cm
- In the lower left corner, the writer (al-katib) Mas'ud al-Tabib has signed his name, along with his diminutive epithets "the weak, the smallest of servants" (al-da'if aqall al-'ibad). The calligrapher's full name was Rukn al-Din Mas'ud al-Tabib, and he was known as a master of the nasta'liq style. Rukn al-Din was nicknamed al-Tabib ("the doctor") as he came from a long line of royal physicians and he himself held high position at the court (divan) of Shah 'Abbas I (r. 1587-1629) in Isfahan (Qadi Ahmad 1959: 169-170). However, since the ruler did not get well after a bout of illness, he requested that Rukn al-Din reimburse his salary and forced him to leave the capital city. The calligrapher headed to Mashhad (northeastern Iran), from where he then journeyed to Balkh (modern-day Afghanistan) and eventually arrived in India (Huart 1972, 221).
- One other calligraphic sample by Rukn al-Din Mas'ud al-Tabib is held in the collections of the Library of Congress: see 1-88-154.153
- The heart is a place of sadness and the eye is the site of essence / That means the essence of your arrival is in the wet eye / In the heart (is) sadness and in the eye is the imagining of you / Because my eye is more refined than my heart
- The poet describes his crying ("wet eye") upon seeing his beloved, attempting to show that visual imagination is more sensible and responsive than the heart.
- This calligraphic fragment includes a quatrain, or ruba'i, praising vision as the most keen of the human senses. The text is written in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper decorated with gold paint. The text panel is framed by two borders in beige and gold and pasted to a blue paper decorated with gold flower and vine motifs. Beginning with an invocation to God as the Glorified (huwa al-mu'izz), the verses read:
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
17th century, Persian quatrain, or ruba'i, describing competition for the loved one, in black Nasta'liq script by the calligrapher Hasan Shamlu (d. ca.1666-7) Iran.
- An kas ka bi-dast jam darad / 'Aysh u tarab-i mudam darad / Ma u may u zahidan u taqva / Ta yar sar-i kudam darad
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 8.3 (w) x 16 (h) cm
- That person who holds a glass (of wine) in his hand / Has everlasting pleasure and joy. / We, wine, devout and pious ones, / Which one will the beloved prefer?
- The calligrapher Hasan Shamlu has signed his work in the lower right corner of the text panel with the expression "written by..."(mashaqahu...). Hasan Shamlu (d. ca.1666-7) was a calligrapher in nasta'liq script who followed closely the style of his predecessor Mir 'Imad (d. 1615). Although works by Hasan Shamlu are rather uncommon (Mehdi Zadeh 1369/1950: 50-51), Mir 'Imad's calligraphies are well attested to in the collections of the Library of Congress (1-84-154.3, 1-84-154.43, 1-85-154.72, 1-85-154.77, 1-87-154.160, 1-90-154.162). Both calligraphers provide a continuum of calligraphic works produced in nasta'liq script in (Greater) Persia during the course of the 17th century.
- The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper and are outlined in cloud bands on a background painted in gold. The text panel is provided by several monochromatic frames and pasted to a larger pink sheet of paper backed by cardboard.
- This calligraphic fragment includes an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, describing competition for the loved one. At the top, the verses are initiated by an invocation to God ("He," or huwa), and its numerical (abjad) equivalent 111. The poem then reads:
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
16th-17th centuries, Quatrains by the Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9), written in the black Nasta'liq script during the 16th- or 17th-centuries, in Iran.
- (Bad deeds) have a very strange adjective / This bizarre Satan that eats people / Most people are cannibals / You are not safe when they greet you
- Another quatrain by the Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9) is inscribed in vertical panels, the last two verses of which appear on a background painted with gold leaves. This quatrain describes respect owed to one's superiors:
- Dil sara parda-yi muhabbat-i tu-st / Dida ayina dar-i tal'at-i tu-st / Man ka sar dar nayavaram bi-du kawm / Gardanam zir-i bar-i minnat-i tu-st
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 15 (w) x 25 (h) cm
- My heart is in your house of love / (My) eye is the mirror that reflects your brilliance / I, who do not prostrate to the two worlds, / My neck is under the weight of your favor
- The fragment is neither dated nor signed. However, it appears to have been produced in 16th- or 17th-century Iran and placed later into an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies.
- The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script in independent registers on a background decorated with illuminated triangular and rectangular panels. The entirety of the text panel is pasted to a larger sheet of beige paper decorated with light blue vegetal motifs.
- This calligraphic fragment includes three iambic pentameter quatrains, or ruba'is, arranged in corresponding vertical and horizontal panels. The verses written diagonally in the upper right corner describe humans' duplicity:
- Yak sifat-i 'ajab amad in ammara-ra / Bu al-'ajab ifrit-i mardum khwara-ra / Adami khwarand aghlab marduman / Az salam 'alaykashan kam ju aman
- Script: nasta'liq
Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Annotatsiya:
Sample of a hopeful letter to a friend, written in a fluid Shikastah-Nasta'liq script in the 18th Cent. by the calligrapher, 'Abdallah.
- Dimensions of Written Surface: 20.3 (w) x 21.7 (h) cm
- Look at the bird of the heart, his wing and feathers burned / He has the hope (to return to) the nest, still still still...
- Murgh-i dil bin ka sukht bal u parash / Darad umid-i ashiyana hanuz hanuz hanuz...
- The calligrapher's signature appears vertically at the top of the text panel and reads: "mashaqahu al-'abd al-aqall... 'Abdallah al-musammah bi-khatim al-anbiya'" (written by the modest servant 'Abdallah known as the "Seal of the Prophets"). The calligrapher, whose name is shared with that of the Prophet Muhammad, has also made a note that he wrote his composition in the month of Muharram. Although he does not specify the year, the script is typical of 18th-century Persian calligraphic works.
- The letter begins with two verses of poetry about hope after disappointment. They read:
- The sample letter then proceeds with expressions that one must use when missing a friend and wishing to see him again.
- This calligraphic fragment comprises a sample of how to write a letter to a friend. Written in a fluid shikastah-nasta'liq in black ink, the text is outlined in cloud bands and placed on a background painted in gold. Several borders in orange, blue and gold frame the text panel, which is pasted to a larger sheet of pink paper backed with cardboard for support.
- Script: shikastah-nasta'liq
