[Calligraphic specimen,
1281?, i.e. 1864 or 1865].
[مرقع حسن الخط, 1281ه؟، 1864 او 1865م؟].
Description
- Language(s)
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Persian
- Published
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[1864 or 1865?]
- Summary
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Superb album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ or murakkâ) with verses of Anvari, etc. and interspersed figurative illustrations of lions, dragons, stags, and other animals as well as vegetal motifs, all embossed in white paper likely with the fingernail, a technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Contributions to the description from Ulrich Marzolph and Emily Neumeier.
- Note
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Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 279
Origin: Date below vase with large floral spray 1281 [1864 or 5] ; other features also suggest 19th century. As appears in opening text, possibly executed for the Ottoman statesman Mehmet Fuat Paşa (d.1869).
Former shelfmark: "598 [?]" inscribed in pencil on verso of 'front' flyleaf ; "123" inscribed in pencil on recto of 'back' flyleaf.
Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark green leather (appearance of straight-grain leather but likely impressed straight grain or other artificial grain) ; Type II binding (with flap) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in a streaked paper (in yellow, dark purple, etc. reminiscent of tree-marbling or stream marbling) ; upper and lower covers carry gold-stamped central vegetal pendant, corner accents and vegetal border ; sewn in red thread, four stations, failed ; overall in fair condition with abrasion, staining, etc.
Support: Paper of written area embossed to carry text and figurative designs, set in surface-dyed frames of bright green and mounted on pasteboards.
Decoration: Embossed borders (reminiscent of mountains) as well as vegetal and figurative designs with such animals as lions, dragons, stags, bulls, etc. accenting the calligraphy or filling a page.
Script: Mainly nastaʻlīq with occasional thuluth ; exquisite calligraphic hand executed with the fingernail or stylus in the technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Compare no. 1-85-154.63 at the Library of Congress and see description provided by Christiane Gruber in Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy (available online).
Layout: Varies widely, pages carrying text with mainly 6-8 lines per page ; many pages carrying figurative or vegetal decoration only.
Collation: Seven 'panels' (mounted leaves) hinged together with blue textile.
Explicit: "ایا چرخ در پیش قدر تو واله ... تویی آنکه بر درگهت چرخ دربان كتبه ابو تراب افتاده"
Incipit: "مديح سپهر رفعت بحر و قار و كدهي يكانه كوهر بحر كرم فؤاد پاشا ... "
Title supplied by cataloguer.
Ms. codex.
Inscriptions in pencil "598 [?]" on verso of front flyleaf and "123" on recto of 'back' flyleaf ; red circular bookseller's sticker "De Marinis & Co. | 5 Vecchietti | Firenze" on 'upper' pastedown ; inscription in blue ink on recto of back flyleaf "على قوشى رسملى رسم ٧" ; clean copy.
- Physical Description
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7 panels :
paper ;
282 x 227 (215 x 174) mm
Viewability
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University of Michigan
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