Persian poetry anthology manuscript page

Description

Written in horizontal and slanted nasta’liq script.
The nasta‘liq script is an entirely Persian artistic innovation, created in the late thirteenth century by merging the qualities of the naskh and the ta‘liq scripts. Persian calligraphers brilliantly exploited the sinuousness of nasta’liq, writing it at a slant within eye-catching geometric schemes such as that seen here. A rectilinear panel is surrounded by a frame with a slanted composition. The piece includes the names of poets, including Mirza Muhammad Mustafa, Mirza Muhammad Faris, ‘Ali Shirazi, and Mulla Muhtashim Kashi, along with excerpts of their poetry.
Yasser Tabbaa, Guest Curator, ‘Art of the Written Word,” 1/15–6/5/2005