- Title
- Scissors
- Date Made
- 18th-19th century
- Period
- Ottoman (1281-1924)
- Medium
- Gilt steel and brass
- Dimensions
- Length: 9 in. (22.86 cm); Width: 2 in. (5.08 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2000.134
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
Even with the advent of mechanical printing in the eighteenth century, calligraphy remained an important art form in the Islamic world, particularly in Ottoman Turkey, as can be seen in the continued embellishment of calligrapher’s tools. The handles of these scissors form the invocation ya Fattah ("O Opener!"), referencing at once one of the ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God and the function of the scissors themselves.
