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Calligraphy, Persian

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:

Detail of page from the Compendium of Chronicles by Rashid al-Din. Shows text with central miniature depicting the Sultan Luhrasp, who ruled the Mazandarin Province of Iran during the late 15th century, seated on a throne, surrounded by attendants.
Detail of page from the Compendium of Chro...

Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

 Fonds
Identifier: Or Ms
Scope and Contents This collection consists of over 700 manuscripts pertaining to the Islamicate world and South Asia, dating from the 10th to 19th centuries C.E. (the majority being post-1500). Chiefly bound paper codices, it includes sacred texts of importance to the Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh faiths, Qur’anic commentaries, Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and the Shi’i Imams, works treating Islamic law, world history, the history of India, medicine,...
Dates: 10th-19th centuries C.E. (bulk: post-1500 C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

Or Ms 94: تحفة الملوک Tuḥfat al-Mulūk, undated copy (original text composed 11th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 94
Scope and Contents

The work is a short treatise intended for the instruction of princes and rulers, and consists of forty chapters, each containing four different pieces of advice. The author, whose name in this instance is not mentioned, was 'Abd-allāh Muḥammad al-Anṣarī of Herat (d. 481 A.H., 1088 C.E.). From the preface it would appear that the work is a compilation of the wise sayings of old philosophers and statesmen.

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 11th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia
f. 5v-6r
f. 5v-6r

Or Ms 373: قطعات خوش خط Qiṭ‘āt-i khūshkhaṭṭ, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 373
Scope and Contents This is a muraqqa' (album) containing valuable specimens of Persian penmanship in a variety of scripts: nasta‘līq, naskh, rayḥān, tawqī‘, muḥaqqaq, riqā‘, and thuluth. They are pasted, large ones in the centre and small ones...
Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

Or Ms 472: Account of Ahmedabad and its buildings, 1272 A.H., 1855 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 472
Scope and Contents A work complied by Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Dīn, the qāz̤ī of Ahmadabad, and dedicated to Mountstuart Elphinstone as a gift upon his trip to the city on December 22nd,1855 C.E.This is a decorative manuscript, fitting broadly with the characteristics of the muraqqa' (album) genre. The support is paper tinted in bold pink and bound in a concertina-like fashion. The outer margin of each page features text detailing the...
Dates: 1272 A.H.; 1855 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

Or Ms 473: An Introduction to Different Persian and Arabic calligraphies, undated (13th century A. H.), undated (19th century)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 473
Scope and Contents

Samples of Persian and Arabic calligraphy, written for Lord John Elphinstone. The calligrapher has used a text praising the dedicatee and repeats it using 40 different calligraphic styles, some of which are rare. Headings and rulings are in red, with main text in black, with some gold interlinear illuminating and frame detail.


The caligraphic styles are numbered in red ink. Each folio bears writing on one side only (some on the recto and some on the verso).

Dates: undated (13th century A. H.); undated (19th century)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

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