Title: Album of Muraqqa‘at
Date: 16–18th century; assembled in the 19th century
Location: Iran
Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper; mounted on boards, and two pages lacquered
Dimensions: 12 original pages of various sizes, mounted as 7 album folios, 33.7 x 21cm
Accession Number: MSS 609
Other Notes:
The album contains work by two of the most prolific and greatest Iranian calligraphers of the 16th century, Mir ‘Ali al-Harawi (folio 2a) and Mir ‘Imad al-Hasani (folios 1b and 2b–5a).
Folios 5b and 6a contain two European engravings, one of a young girl and the other a hand-coloured portrait of Admiral Nelson, both of which have been carefully integrated in the album. Folio 6b contains various counsels written in Isfahan for Mulla Sami‘ Mazandarani. They are written in shikastah and signed by ‘Abd al-Majid, who was one of the most highly esteemed masters of this difficult script. Folio 7a has a ghazal on autumn by a state official, ‘Abd al-Vahhab, also in shikastah.
Script:
written in nasta‘liq, khurdah-nasta‘liq and shikastah scripts
Bibliography:
N.F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen. Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume V, London 1996, cat.53, pp.109–13.
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