Kufic script in stone, Bengal, 1500

Source: Annemarie Schimmel, with the assistance of Barbara Rivolta, Islamic Calligraphy (New York:  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993), p. 52.  Scan by FWP, Sept. 2001.

*CLICK HERE for the Met's own image, with ZOOM capabilities*

"Panel with dedication for a mosque.  Bengal, Gaur, dated A. H. 905 (A.D. 1500).  Inscribed in Thuluth in "bow-and-arrow" style. Gabbro. 16 1/8 x 45 5/16 x 2 3/ in. (41 x 115 x 7 cm). Purchase, Gift of Mrs. Nelson Doubleday and Bequest of Charles R. Gerty, by exchange. 1981 (1981.320). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Description: This dedicatory inscription in "tughra" script, dated A.H. 905 / 1500 A.D., is from a mosque in western Bengal built for Prince Daniyal, a son of Sultan Husayn Shah. The inscription is an outstanding example of Indo-Muslim epigraphy: the regular pattern in which the vertical letters are arranged and the skillfully inserted, bowlike words that structure the pattern are typical of Muslim calligraphy in medieval Bengal and later in the Deccan."

Page from a Qur'an, 1350-1370

Source:  http://www.unc.edu/depts/ackland/tours/southasian.html
(downloaded Oct. 1999)

"North India, Delhi Sultanate-- illuminated page from the Koran, ink, opaque watercolor and gold, ca.1350-1370, Ackland Museum."

An illuminated page of poetry, Herat c.1490

Source:  http://www.lacma.org/islamic_art/figures/fig27.htm
(downloaded Dec. 1999)

"Folio of poetry. From a partially dispersed manuscript of the Diwan of Sultan-Husayn Bayqara. Greater Iran, Herat, c. 1490. Opaque watercolor, gold, and decoupage on gold-flecked colored paper.  8 7/8 x 5 6/8 in. (22.5 x 14.2 cm). The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky. M.73.5.599b.  From the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art."