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About this Item

Title

  • Verses by Jami

Names

  • Hajji Yadigar al-Katib

Created / Published

  • ca. 1600-1650

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Persian verses by the poet Jami (d. 898/1492), written in Nasta'liq script by calligrapher Hajji Yadigar al-Katib, active in 17th Cent Mughal India.
  • -  Basa ziba rukh-i niku shamayil / Ka suyash tab'-i mardum nist mayil / Basa luli vash-i shirin karashma / Ka rizad khun za dilha chasma chasma
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.1 (w) x 18.9 (h) cm
  • -  How often there is a beautiful face with graceful ways / Who is not sought after by people / But how often a harlot with sweet winks / Causes the blood of hearts to pour out in gushes
  • -  In the lower right corner, the "lowly" (al-mudhnib) calligrapher Hajji Yadigar al-Katib has signed his work. As his name suggests, he must have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) and been a professional scribe (katib). He may be synonymous with a certain Yadigar Khwajah Samarqandi, who arrived in India and offered the Mughal ruler Jahangir (r. 1606-27) an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies, for which he received a robe of honor (Huart 1972, 169).
  • -  The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper. Framed by cloud bands, the text appears on a background lavishly decorated with gold painted vegetal designs highlighted in light blue and red dots. These motifs appear to support a 17th-century Central Asian or Mughal provenance.
  • -  This calligraphic fragment includes verses composed by the famous Persian poet Jami (d. 898/1492). In the top right corner, the text begins with the attribution of the verses to the master (makhdumi) poet and a request for (God's) forgiveness (al-maghfarah) and mercy (al-rahmah) upon Jami. The verses then describe how often true beauty is overlooked:
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-88-154.149

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 13 (w) x 21.5 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714670

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:

Hajji Yadigar Al-Katib. Verses by Jami. to 1650, ca. 1600. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714670/.

APA citation style:

Hajji Yadigar Al-Katib. (ca. 1600) Verses by Jami. to 1650. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714670/.

MLA citation style:

Hajji Yadigar Al-Katib. Verses by Jami. to 1650, ca. 1600. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714670/>.