- Title
- Hilye (Verbal Portrait of the Prophet Muhammad)
- Date Made
- 1270 A.H. (A.D. 1853-1854)
- Medium
- Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- 12 3/8 × 8 in. (31.43 × 20.32 cm)
Frame: 23 × 19 × 1 1/2 in. (58.42 × 48.26 × 3.81 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.85.237.64
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
The illumination of this elegant page further enhances the beauty of the superb calligraphy. The text, in thuluth and ta‘liq scripts, is a hilye, or a verbal portrait of the Prophet Muhammad, describing both his general physical attributes and charismatic nature. As visual representations of the Prophet's visage were often discouraged in Islam, word portraits came to be used, especially in Ottoman Turkey, where they developed into an art form.
- Selected Bibliography
- Binney, Edwin, 3rd. "Turkish Arts of the Book in the Binney Collection." Arts of Asia 17, no.6 (Nov/Dec 1987): 97-104.
