Page of Calligraphy from an Album16th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Vertical calligraphic album page with nasta'liq Persian script in black ink on a pale marbled ground, surrounded by coral-pink ruling and a gold-flecked teal outer border

Calligraphic album page with Persian nastaliq script arranged in diagonal verses on a pale green ground with faint gold floral motifs, framed by pink and gold borders with additional inscriptions in the margins, set against a gold-flecked green mount.

Title: Page of Calligraphy from an Album
Place Made: Iran
Date Made: 16th century
Period: Safavid (1501-1732)
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 11 1/4 × 7 1/8 in. (28.58 × 18.1 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.784
Classification: Manuscripts
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: This album page showcases verses of Persian love poetry written in nasta‘liq, a distinctive type of hanging script developed in late fourteenth-century Iran, with verses by Khaqani (d. 1190) and Amir Khusraw Dihlavi (d. 1325). The text is embellished with stylized floral and leaf designs and remounted into gold-flecked margins—a common practice for albums collected by the court and wealthy elite. The versatility of nasta‘liq allowed for various compositional formats, including the chalipa style seen here, which features four diagonal lines of poetry in the center surrounded by a border of additional verses.

Nasta‘liq was used primarily for copying Persian poetry not only on paper but also in inscriptions on a variety of objects (see M.73.5.340). It became the principal calligraphic script in Persian-literate regions, including Iran, Central Asia, Anatolia, and India (where it sometimes was used to render Turkic and Indic languages). Renowned for its elegance, it was an integral part of Persian artistic expression, not just as a writing system but as a visual art form that encapsulates the beauty of the Persian language and the depth of its literary traditions, as demonstrated by this specimen.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
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.

Page of Calligraphy from an Album16th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Page of Calligraphy from an Album
Place Made: Iran
Date Made: 16th century
Period: Safavid (1501-1732)
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 11 1/4 × 7 1/8 in. (28.58 × 18.1 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.784
Classification: Manuscripts
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: This album page showcases verses of Persian love poetry written in nasta‘liq, a distinctive type of hanging script developed in late fourteenth-century Iran, with verses by Khaqani (d. 1190) and Amir Khusraw Dihlavi (d. 1325). The text is embellished with stylized floral and leaf designs and remounted into gold-flecked margins—a common practice for albums collected by the court and wealthy elite. The versatility of nasta‘liq allowed for various compositional formats, including the chalipa style seen here, which features four diagonal lines of poetry in the center surrounded by a border of additional verses.

Nasta‘liq was used primarily for copying Persian poetry not only on paper but also in inscriptions on a variety of objects (see M.73.5.340). It became the principal calligraphic script in Persian-literate regions, including Iran, Central Asia, Anatolia, and India (where it sometimes was used to render Turkic and Indic languages). Renowned for its elegance, it was an integral part of Persian artistic expression, not just as a writing system but as a visual art form that encapsulates the beauty of the Persian language and the depth of its literary traditions, as demonstrated by this specimen.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
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.