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Manuscript/Mixed Material Quatrain on the virtue of patience

About this Item

Title

  • Quatrain on the virtue of patience

Names

  • Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri

Created / Published

  • 18th century

Headings

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

Notes

  • -  Quatrain on the virtue of patience, produced in 18th Cent India, present day Pakistan (Lahore) in Nasta'liq script.
  • -  Dimensions of Written Surface: 10.3 (w) x 20.5 (h) cm
  • -  I went to the doctor, asked about my severe pain / (And) what could he do for my lovesickness / He ordered as a drink the blood of liver and water of the eye / I said: "What kind of food (is that)?," and he answered: "You must eat liver."
  • -  Raftam bi-tabib guftam az ghayat-i dard / Bimari-yi 'ishq-ra cha mibayad kard / Khun-i jigar ab-i dida sharbat farmud / Guftam ka ghaza guft jigar bayad kard
  • -  The doctor recommends his lovesick patient to endure (literally, "eat liver" or jigar khwurdan) the pains of love, as there is no medicinal potion that will cure him.
  • -  The verses are written diagonally in nasta'liq script in white ink on a light brown paper. The calligrapher Muhammad Muhsin has signed his work (raqamahu, or "has written it") in the lower left corner. On the verso of this fragment appears a later note in English attributing the work to a certain "Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri." He can be identified as Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri, who may have have formed part of a group of calligraphers active in Lahore during the 18th century that included 'Abdallah Lahuri (1-04-713.19.43) and Muhammad Zahir Lahuri (1-04-713.19.40). 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 active in the nasta'liq script such as Muhammad Muhsin sought out patronage from local rulers.
  • -  This calligraphic fragment includes an iambic pentameter quatrain, or ruba'i, on the need for endurance. The verses read:
  • -  Script: nasta'liq
  • -  1-04-713.19.52

Medium

  • 1 volume ; 22.3 (w) x 35.3 (h) cm

Repository

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

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2019714525

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:

Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri. Quatrain on the Virtue of Patience. 18th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714525/.

APA citation style:

Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri. Quatrain on the Virtue of Patience. 18th Century. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714525/.

MLA citation style:

Muhammad Muhsin Lahuri. Quatrain on the Virtue of Patience. 18th Century. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2019714525/>.