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Manuscript/Mixed Material Illuminated frontispiece

About this Item

Title

  • Illuminated frontispiece

Created / Published

  • 1500-50

Headings

  • -  Calligraphy, Arabic
  • -  Calligraphy, Persian
  • -  Manuscripts, Persian--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Afghanistan
  • -  Arabic script calligraphy
  • -  Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
  • -  Islamic calligraphy
  • -  Islamic manuscripts

Notes

  • -  A typical 16th century Persianate frontispieces made for a Qur'an, from Herat, present day Afghanistan.
  • -  Illuminators during the first half of the 16th century experimented with the double-page illuminated frontispiece. For example, the artist Shaykhzadah began using black backgrounds and invented new arabesque or scrollwork motifs. These motifs not only appeared in frontispieces, but were used as architectural ornamentation in manuscript paintings (Soudavar 1992: 193, 73c). Such decorative connections highlight the close relationship between illuminators and painters, who collaborated in the production of illuminated and illustrated manuscripts.
  • -  This illuminated frontispiece is one of two pages that would have formed the opening double-page composition of a manuscript. It is possible that it belonged to a Qur'an. The title would have appeared in the top and bottom rectangular panels. The central medallion may have contained the beginning of the first chapter of the Qur'an entitled al-Fatihah (The Opening). It also may have served as a space for the work's dedication to a patron or blessings upon its owner.
  • -  1-85-154.87

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 23.7 (w) x 38.3 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714481

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:

Illuminated Frontispiece. -50, 1500. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714481/.

APA citation style:

(1500) Illuminated Frontispiece. -50. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714481/.

MLA citation style:

Illuminated Frontispiece. -50, 1500. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714481/>.