Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 22
An illuminated calligraphic panel consisting of sura al-Fatihah written in nasta'liq script, copied by Ghulam Reza Persia, mid-19th Century
6 October 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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An illuminated calligraphic panel consisting of sura al-Fatihah written in nasta'liq script, copied by Ghulam Reza
Persia, mid-19th Century
Persia, mid-19th Century
Arabic manuscript on paper laid down on card, text written in six lines of elegant nasta'liq script in black ink within cloudbands, gilt ground decorated with floral sprays and arabesques in colours and gold, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, in mount
305 x 193 mm.
305 x 193 mm.
Footnotes
A handwritten note on the reverse, written by Safa, who describes himself as one of Ghulam Reza's pupils, reads: 'This piece of my Sufi guide, Ghulam-Reza, was bought in Shiraz for the khanqah, as a blessing and a sign of my sincere respect for [my] artist guide in 1298/1880-81'.
It is rare for the text of the Qur'an to be written in nasta'liq script. According to tradition the Qur'an was written in clear naskhi, thuluth, muhaqqaq and rayhani scripts to avoid any misreading or misinterpretation of the sacred text. The earliest Qur'an copied in nasta'liq script was written for the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp by the scribe Shah Mahmud Nishapuri in AH 945/AD 1538–39, now in the Topkapi Library, Istanbul (see M. Lings, The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination, London 1976, p. 190, no. 91, and Y. Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, London 1978, p. 28). In later centuries it became popular in Persia to commission illuminated album pages and wall panels incorporating the first sura, al-Fatihah, written in nasta'liq script.
Ghulam Reza is described by Bayani as one of the best calligraphers of the 19th Century. He was first recognized by Muhammad Shah. In some of his calligraphic pages, Ghulam Reza describes his life and the fact that he was always favoured by Muhammad Shah, who rewarded him with inlaid pen-boxes, Kashmiri shawls and textiles as well as monetarily. At the age of 25 he was in charge of teaching calligraphy to many princes and chancellery officers. He was accused of being a Babi and was banned from Nasir al-Din Shah's court and spent the rest of his time copying texts and teaching calligraphy. He died in 1886. He wrote nasta'liq script ranging from minute (ghubar) to architectural size (shesh dang). He also wrote in shikasteh and his recorded works include the inscriptions of the Sepahsalar Madrasah in Tehran and numerous calligraphic pages dated between AH 1260/AD 1844-45 and AH 1303/AD 1885-86. See Mehdi Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-navisan, nasta'liq navisan, vol. 2, 1346 sh, pp. 550-56.
Safa (Reza-Qoli, known as Haj Mirza Safa) was a Sufi of the Ni'matullahi Order (see M. Bamdad, Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, 1700-1900, vol. II, 1966, p. 31). The khanqah mentioned must be the Ni'matullahi's.