Manuscript/Mixed Material Verses on the beloved
About this Item
Title
- Verses on the beloved
Names
- Munshi Ram
Created / Published
- 18th century
Headings
- - Calligraphy, Arabic
- - Calligraphy, Persian
- - Manuscripts, Persian--Washington (D.C.)
- - India--West Bengal
- - Arabic script calligraphy
- - Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
- - Islamic calligraphy
- - Islamic manuscripts
- - Nasta'liq
Notes
- - Verses on the beloved, Persian poem describing the heavenly scent and life-endowing capabilities of the beloved, written by calligrapher Munshi Ram, from West Bengal India in the Nasta'liq script.
- - Agar cha mushk-i az far khush nasim ast / Dam-i jan bakhsh chun buyat nadarad / Maqam-i khub u dilkhwah-st firdaws / Valikin runaq-i kuyat nadarad
- - Although musk smells fragrant / It does not breathe life like your scent / Paradise is a good and beloved place / But it is not as splendid as your abode
- - Although the calligraphic specimen is neither signed nor dated, a later note on the fragment's verso attributes the piece to a certain "Munshi Ram." This calligrapher may be identified with Munshi Ram (1737-90), a writer specializing in Arabic and Persian who was active in Radhanagar, West Bengal (India).
- - Another specimen signed by Munshi Ram is held in the collections of the Library of Congress (1-04-713.19.54). Judging from both specimens, he seems to have been an 18th-century Indian calligrapher who prefered writing verses in nasta'liq script using white ink on red backgrounds.
- - Dimensions of Written Surface: 8 (w) x 14 (h) cm
- - The text is executed in nasta'liq script in white ink on a red background. Blue panels decorated with gold flower and leaf motifs separate and frame the lines of text . Other monochromatic frames also appear on the larger sheet of beige paper backed by cardboard onto which the text panel has been pasted.
- - This calligraphic fragment includes four lines of Persian poetry describing the heavenly scent and life-endowing capabilities of the beloved:
- - Script: nasta'liq
- - 1-04-713.19.55
Medium
- 1 volume ; 24.1 (w) x 35.7 (h) cm
Repository
- Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2019714560
Online Format
- image