Mirror-Image Calligraphic Composition

Reverse painting on glass is a decorative technique in which artists apply paint, gold leaf, and silver leaf to the back of a sheet of glass. The finished image is viewed from the opposite side, through the glass itself. It originated in Europe, but after the seventeenth century, it spread beyond Europe to China, India, Africa, and Iran. In Iran, the technique became popular in the early twentieth century when it was used to depict portraits of the rulers, princes, princesses, and royal and other couples.

This example features a mirror-image (musanna) calligraphic design with the name of God (Allah) and members of the Prophet’s family: Muhammad, ‘Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn. It is enclosed in the shape of a cypress with a stem that sprouts into two paisley-shaped calligrams at the bottom. Two crowns are found on either side of the cypress at the very top.