POETIC PRAYERS

MS 5318
MS Short Title POETIC PRAYERS
Text POETIC PRAYERS FOR ALI
Description MS in Persian on marbled paper, Kashmir, December 1658, 1 f., 34x21 cm, single column, (27x17 cm), 8 lines in Nasta’liq script by Muhammad Ashraf al-Razavi, autograph, signed.
Binding
Context There are 2 more ff. with Sam Fogg coming from an album of calligraphy from Kashmir of same date and calligrapher, containing the beginning of the text of the present leaf, there identified as "Munajat-I hazrat ‘Ali", the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet, and the 4th orthodox Caliph. The combination of a Shi’i text in praise of ‘Ali, and the use of marbled paper occurs in another album leaf, now New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986.109.2).høyen Collection.
Provenance 1. Muhammad Ashraf al-Razavi, Kashmir (1658); 2. Sam Fogg.
Commentary Nasta’liq is compounded from the scripts Naskh and Ta’liq (hanging script), both established 9th–10th c. and is a variant style of Ta’liq. Nasta’liq was developed by the Persians, and it has ever since been their national script. The Persian calligrapher Mir ‘Ali Sultan al-Tabrizi (d. 1416) was the founder of the script. He is also credited with the complex rules which governs it. The text chosen by the scribe is no coincidence, as all Islamic calligraphers trace their pedigree to ‘Ali. (Safadi: Islamic Calligraphy, p. 27).
Published
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
See also
Place of origin Kashmir
Dates 1658 AD