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Manuscript/Mixed Material Verses from Nizami's "Divan"

About this Item

Title

  • Verses from Nizami's "Divan"

Names

  • Abu al-Ma'ali

Created / Published

  • 16th-17th centuries

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Safavid style Persian calligraphy fragmentary with a poem by Nizami, in the Nasta'liq script.
  • -  (For) every idol that they fashioned / They sewed a robe the size of its body / Not everyone can be the confidant of power / Not every donkey can carry Jesus
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 18.7 (w) x 12 (h) cm
  • -  Har sanami-ra ka bar afrukhtand / Jama bar andanza-yi tan dukhtand / Mahram-i dawlat nabavad har sari / Bar-i Masiha nakashad har khari
  • -  The text is signed by a certain Abu al-Ma'ali, whose name appears in an opposite diagonal at the center of the composition. Although sharing his name with the reputed calligrapher Abu al-Ma'ali 'Izz al-Din 'Abd al-Wahhab Zanjani (d. 606/1292), a disciple of Yaqut al-Musta'simi (Huart 1972, 82), the Abu al-Ma'ali who composed this fragment in nasta'liq script must have been active at a much later date. The composition, which recalls a number of Safavid calligraphic exercises (siyah mashq) in its formal make-up and calligraphic style, must have been executed during the 16th or 17th century.
  • -  The verses are executed in dark brown ink on a beige paper framed by a blue border. It is pasted to a larger sheet of beige paper decorated with green flecks of paint and backed by cardboard.
  • -  This calligraphic fragment includes several verses from Nizami's (d. 614/1218) "Divan" (Compendium of Poems). Beginning with an invocation to God, the verses then describe how certain things and people fulfill a particular role in the world:
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-04-713.19.37

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 36.5 (w) x 24 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714521

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:

Abu Al-Ma'Ali. Verses from Nizami's "Divan". 16th-17th Centuries. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714521/.

APA citation style:

Abu Al-Ma'Ali. Verses from Nizami's "Divan". 16th-17th Centuries. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714521/.

MLA citation style:

Abu Al-Ma'Ali. Verses from Nizami's "Divan". 16th-17th Centuries. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714521/>.