Leaf from a Qur’an manuscript, late 9th–10th century
This page is from a dispersed manuscript, many folios of which once belonged to the scholar R. M. Riefstahl. The angular kufic script is moderated by the roundness of several letters that look…
Islamic Calligraphy 1450-1925 A.D.- East
This calligraphic panel is executed in black (Indian) naskh on a pink paper decorated with gold cloud motifs and pasted to a light blue backing. The poem wishes a ruler (nicknamed the…
Style in Islamic Art (750-1250 AD)
Abbasid Style The Abbasid style emerged in Iraq between 750 and 850, when the Abbasid dynasty was at the height of its power. The Abbasid caliphs constructed huge and lavishly decorated palaces at…
Islamic Calligraphy 1450-1925 – West
Calligraphy from the Ottoman empire and other places in the western Muslim world. This single panel praises Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law ‘Ali and his famous double-edged sword Dhu al-Fiqar. This calligraphic sheet states that…
Islamic Architecture – Abbasid Period
Under theAbbasid caliphate (750–1258), which succeeded the Umayyads (661–750) in 750, the focal point of Islamic political and cultural life shifted eastward from Syria to Iraq, where, in 762, Baghdad, the circular City of Peace…
