Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript in Floriated Script
Not on view
The manuscript to which this page once belonged, copied in floriated "new style" script, exhibits a striking balance of rigorous discipline and exuberant imagination. The calligrapher pushes the boundaries of the "new style" script by transforming the vertical shafts of the letters into plaited designs and vegetation. The playful use of this script is also seen in Seljuq architectural decoration.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript in Floriated Script
Date:11th century
Geography:Made in Iran or Central Asia
Medium:Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions:H. 9 7/8 in. (25.1 cm) W. 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1945
Accession Number:45.140
Leaf from a Koran
In calligraphy, as in other arts, the eleventh century in Iran was a period of extraordinary creative ferment and innovation. This page is one of six in the Metropolitan's collection from a manuscript that is said to have had a colophon dating it to A.D. 1050. This manuscript is characterized by the most striking combination of rigorous discipline and exuberant, sometimes almost playful imagination. It may be seen as straining to the limits the so-called Eastern Kufic style; and one knows of manuscripts signed by Ghaznavid calligraphers and illuminators shortly after this date that combine Koranic text in majestic Eastern Kufic with colophons in amazingly free and fluid cursive styles. This page contains, complete, the "Chapter of Unity" or "Sincere Religion" (no. 112), as follows: "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, Say: 'He is God, One, God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, and has not been begotten, and equal to Him is not any one'."
Manuel Keene in [Berlin 1981]
[ Mrs. Kamer Aga-Oglu, Ann Arbor, MI, until 1945; sold to MMA]
Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 16.
New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Celestial Pen: Islamic Calligraphy," September 28, 1982–February 7, 1983, no catalogue.
New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nature of Islamic Ornament Part I: Calligraphy," February 26–June 28, 1998, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Decorated Word : Writing and Picturing in Islamic Calligrahy," April 8–November 3, 2019.
"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 16, pp. 62–63, ill. p. 63 (b/w).
Ekhtiar, Maryam. How to Read Islamic Calligraphy. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. p. 110, ill. fig. 43.
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The Met's collection of Islamic art is one of the most comprehensive in the world and ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions from Spain to Indonesia.
