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Manuscript/Mixed Material Quatrain on unity of lovers

About this Item

Title

  • Quatrain on unity of lovers

Names

  • Pir Muhammad b. Dust Muhammad

Created / Published

  • unknown

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Persian quatrain on unity of lovers, written in the black Nasta'liq script by the calligrapher Pir Muhammad b. Dust Muhammad
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 7.8 (w) x 15.5 (h) cm
  • -  How good is that person in the bazaar of love / He died for your sadness and bought your sorrow with his heart / It is not today that the story of love in Salman's heart (began) / God created me and my love of you in tandem
  • -  In the bottom horizontal panel, the calligrapher Pir Muhammad b. Dust Muhammad states that he wrote (katabahu) the piece. In the lower left corner of the text panel, he also specifies that he has copied the handwritting (naql min khatt) of the master teacher (ustadh al-kamil) Muhammad 'Ali Bukhari. Pir Muhammad b. Dust Muhammad's statement suggests that he may have used a calligraphic specimen by (his?) teacher as a model for his own, either adapting it or copying it directly. Unfortunately, as neither calligrapher appears recorded in historical sources, it is difficult to suggest a date of execution and a provenance for this piece.
  • -  Khurram kasi ka bar sar-i bazar 'ashiqi / Jan dar ghammat badad u ghammat-ra bi-jan kharid / Imruz nist dar sar-i Salman hadis-i 'ishq / Kizad mara u 'ishq-i tura ba ham afarid
  • -  The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper framed by a pasted border decorated with interlacing leaf and vine motifs.
  • -  This calligraphic fragment includes an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, on the primordiality of a lover's affection. Beginning with an invocation to "God, the Glorious" (huwa al-'aziz), the verses read:
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-89-154.182

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 10.2 (w) x 20.2 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714686

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:

Pir Muhammad B. Dust Muhammad. Quatrain on Unity of Lovers. [Unknown] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714686/.

APA citation style:

Pir Muhammad B. Dust Muhammad. Quatrain on Unity of Lovers. [Unknown] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714686/.

MLA citation style:

Pir Muhammad B. Dust Muhammad. Quatrain on Unity of Lovers. [Unknown] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714686/>.