It is not a happy combination On the 17th of February 1934, Byron visits Shiraz and its monuments. In particular, he records the Friday Mosque of the city, also known as Masjid-i ‘Atiq. As often, Byron is not at all enthusiast of the building, particularly of its decoration. As a whole, Shiraz does not make…
Tag: calligraphy
#IslamicForgeries – Episode 2, part 2 | The Blue Room in Palermo (reading its content)
The story of the finding of the blue room is interesting, full of opinions and full of gaps. I am following its developments, as much as I can, since it started, in late 2013. Many interpretations have been proposed so far, but before providing an interpretation on my own, it is necessary to step back…
Hijazi script, carbon dating and Qur’anic manuscripts – a response to Italian news
In these days newspapers and online communities started to take into consideration early Qur’anic manuscripts. This is thanks to Dr. Alba Fedeli, who discovered one of the earliest known copies of the Qur’an. Being a former student of Professor Alba Fedeli, and having written my bachelor thesis on the Sanaa manuscripts, under her supervision I…
Treasures from al-Andalus – the type designer’s perspective on Arabic calligraphy
Art can be read, and studied, from different perspectives and with different purposes. Arabic calligraphy is no exception to the rule. Such is the case of Therry Fétiveau and his Batutah typeface. His experience as a graphic and type designer literally opened a brave new world in front of my eyes: a world in which…
Tughra, the unbearable beauty of a signature… and its customization
Just say ‘Islamic calligraphy’ or google it, sooner or later (most probably sooner), a tughra will appear. I admit I never took tughras in much consideration when studying Islamic art: to me they were simply signatures of the sultans, surely useful to date letters, inscriptions and objects. But nothing more. Then I’ve starting facing the Islamic…
A divergence to the standard formula: an alabaster gravestone from Nishapur, Iran
It is quite a long time that I do not read and post an inscription. Well, not that long: let’s say one month or so… but I missed it. Today I woke up and said: ‘Today I have to read a gravestone’: and here we are. Alabaster gravestones from 10th century Nishapur are not that…
Reinterpreting an Iranian slab from XII century
After my previous blog, in which I gave my reading and some thoughts about an Iranian tombstone dated 1101 and kept in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I want to go on down this path and consider another tombstone, kept in the same museum (accession number M.73.7.1).
XII century Iranian tombstones – reading what museums don’t read
Do I have to say again that I like tombstones? I think it’s quite clear… In these days, following the post about signatures on Iranian tombstones from XII century, I started to search similar material in museums and auction houses just to have an overall view on the subject. Well…I must admit that some of…
When calligraphy becomes architecture: Q 2:137 and fashion
Calligraphy has been thoroughly used in Islamic art and architecture with decorative purposes. The Qur’an, the Word of God has been used for decorative purposes, but not only. Erika Dodd, in her “The Image of the Word” underlines how the Qur’anic text in mosque decoration was actually used with iconographic purposes, that are both related…
Must read for studying Islamic epigraphy (open access…of course)
When dealing with inscriptions some sources need to be read… an epigraphist, an amateur, a curious, in fact everyone interested in any level in the study of Islamic epigraphy should read some books, just as someone who likes English literature need to read Shakespeare. Thankfully, the World Wide Web provides us with sources otherwise available…
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