Calligraphic Panel

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Calligraphic Panel

Iran, Caspian region, late 15th century
Wood
Wood, carved, with traces of polychrome
7 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/8 in. (17.7 x 28.5 x 2.8 cm)
Indian Art Special Purpose Fund (M.76.3)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The sole decoration on this panel is the inscribed signature of its maker: Husayn ibn (son of) Master Ahmad, woodcarver of Sari (in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, in the southern Caspian region),...
The sole decoration on this panel is the inscribed signature of its maker: Husayn ibn (son of) Master Ahmad, woodcarver of Sari (in the Iranian province of Mazandaran, in the southern Caspian region), whose family members—including his father, brother, and uncle—evidently shared the same profession, to judge by the signatures on several other examples of wood carving. Written in thuluth, a monumental script with large, rounded proportions, the seven words of the inscription are deeply carved in three horizontal registers and set against a scrolling-leaf background; the tall, vertical letters of the lowest register are elongated so that they intersect with the letters of the lines above.
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Bibliography

  • Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

  • Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
  • Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

  • Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
  • Komaroff, Linda.  Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 2005.
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