Top of page

About this Item

Title

  • Spousal advice

Names

  • Abdallah (Lahuri)

Created / Published

  • 18th century

Headings

  • -  Calligraphy, Arabic
  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  India
  • -  Arabic script calligraphy
  • -  Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
  • -  Islamic calligraphy
  • -  Islamic manuscripts
  • -  Spousal Advice
  • -  Thuluth

Notes

  • -  Arabic work titled: "Spousal Advice" in Thuluth script from 18th Cent. Mughal India.
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 18.4 (w) x 17.6 (h) cm
  • -  First line of text: line 2 / Second line of text: line 4 / Third line of text: line 6 / Fourth line of text: line 5 (up-side-down) / Fifth line of text: line 3 (up-side-down) / Sixth line of text: line 1
  • -  The fragment is signed up-side-down between the last two lines of text. The "servant" calligrapher 'Abdallah states that he has written this piece (mashaqahu al-'abd 'Abdallah), but he does not provide a date. The calligrapher may be identified as 'Abdallah Lahuri, who was active in Lahore during the 18th century. Another fragment of his work executed in nasta'liq script, is also held in the collections of the Library of Congress (1-04-713.19.43). After the death of Aurangzeb (d. 1707), Mughal power was decentralized and royal patronage of calligraphy declined. The rise of new styles emerged in cities like Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Lahore, where calligraphers such as 'Abdallah sought out patronage from local rulers and seem to have had the freedom to experiment with a number of different calligraphic scripts.
  • -  These husbandly recommendations seek to promote goodness and piety in a woman who is also a mother. The saying belongs to the broader category of advice (nasihat) in Arabic moral literature.
  • -  This calligraphic fragment includes six lines of script written right-side-up and up-side-down in thuluth script in black ink on a beige sheet of folio pasted to a orange sheet backed by cardboard. The sequence of lines goes as follows:
  • -  Together, the six continuous lines of text in Arabic read: A father speaks to a mother [and says] this is what is joyful to a tender and loving father and one who knows that this behavior is desirable. You, as their mother, must be a sound, healthy, and pure soul; you should implement these [manners] as my will in God's following; you should spend within what God limits in your life; and you should accept what is given, what is permitted and forbidden, and you must not disobey this.
  • -  Script: thuluth
  • -  1-04-713.15.1

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 25.2 (w) x 23.5 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714513

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:

Abdallah. Spousal Advice. 18th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714513/.

APA citation style:

Abdallah. Spousal Advice. 18th Century. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714513/.

MLA citation style:

Abdallah. Spousal Advice. 18th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714513/>.