Calligraphic Composition

Location: Iran

Materials: ink and gold on paper; mounted on board within borders of gold-sprinkled tinted paper

Dimensions: 13.1 x 8.8cm (text panel)

Accession Number: CAL 133

Other Notes:

The composition takes on the Ninety-Nine Names of God (al-Asma’ al-Husna) and turns them into a complex pattern, in which the names are paired off on the basis of letter forms held in common and arrange reciprocally. The colophon is incorporated into the design.

Script:

written in naskh script

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.167, pp.221 and 223.