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  • Jadval

    Jadval

    Jadval or “border” refers to the thin lines that surround the four sides of the text and separate it from the margins.  These lines come in different colors and are drawn by metal instruments known as qalam-e jadval (pens used for drawing borders).  Today, a European version of these pens, known as Terling, is used.  The thickness of the lines could be adjusted by turning a screw on the handle of the qalam-e jadval.

  • Two Dots under Ye and a Ye that Does Not Have Two Dots Below It

    Two Dots under Ye and a Ye that Does Not Have Two Dots Below It

    Sometimes, in order to achieve equilibrium in the calligraphic representation of a word or in order to fill in space, two dots are written under the letter ی, or an alef maqsorah  ( ٰ ) is written above the ی.  Here, the letter ی is written in its broken form, so it appears as ے . The top arrow points to the ے with dots, and the bottom arrow to a ے without dots.  While these two dots and the alef maqsorah are significant in modern Arabic orthography, they do not carry any particular significance in Persian.

  • Chalipā Headings

    Chalipā Headings

    Often lachakis are drawn at the corners of a chalipā.  At times, however, verbal headings, such a reference to God or the poet's name, are used in place of a lachaki.  Here a reference to God ("He is the Almighty") is made inside the top lachaki and the artist's signature is written in the bottom lachaki.

  • Sharing or Omitting Dots

    Sharing or Omitting Dots

    The curves or the extended forms of letters in the Nasta‘liq script, when combined with the limited space given to texts in illuminated manuscripts, do not leave enough room for writing all the dots of letters.  Consequently, calligraphers sometimes omit dots or use one dot for two letters.

  • Genetive Hamzah

    Genetive Hamzah

    Nouns that end in a silent ha’ (ه) are marked as genitive in noun constructs with a hamzah (ء), which is pronounced as ye.  This genitive hamzah was generally not written, which makes its appearance here noteworthy.

  • Raqam

    Raqam

    The tradition of signing or writing one’s name at the end of a manuscript or a piece of calligraphy is ancient; it dates back to the first centuries of Islam.  It is more common to find the name of calligraphers than other artists or craftsmen at the end of manuscripts since they were the ones who did the writing.  There are certain phrases that have come to be customarily included in signatures or raqams; they usually point to the humility of the artists:  al-ḥaqīr (the humble), al-faqīr (the impoverished), etc.

     

  • Lachaki

    Lachaki

    Triangular decorations drawn on the top and bottom, and sometimes sides, of a chalipā.

  • Qat‘ah Pardāzi

    Qat‘ah Pardāzi

    Qat‘ah makers would sometimes take one qat‘ah or chalipā and place it at the center of a page and would use cuttings from other qat‘ahs and paste them to the central qat‘ah in order to make a bigger and more attractive qat‘ah.  In this piece, this technique has been used with pieces of poetry that are pasted along the border, but are not meant to be related, either in meaning or in calligraphic style, to the poem at the center of the page.

  • Tasmeh Andāzi

    Tasmeh Andāzi

    The thin decorative border that, similar to jadval, separates the text from the margins is called tasmeh.  Tasmeh Andāzi is the act of creating this border, which generally repeats the same decorative pattern.

  • Eslimi

    Eslimi

    Decorate vine motif
Chalipā in Nasta‘liq script.  Museum of Decorative Arts in Isfahan.

Text and Margins

The relationship between the text and margin is noteworthy when the paper used for the text and the paper used for the margin are different.

Margins are generally distinguished from the text with thin lines, called borders or jadval.  Depending on the fineness of the manuscript or book, it could have multiple margins of varying colors.  In fine manuscripts and albums, the paper for the text and the margin are usually of a differing type and color.  Sometimes, the text of a book would be written on two pieces of thin paper that were glued together so that there would not be a shadow from the text on the other side of the page.  For this reason, the paper used for the margin of the page would often be twice as thick as the paper used for the text.  When a single page was used to write on both sides, attention would be paid to choosing a paper with similar thickness with the text in order to avoid wrinkles.  

This is usually done when the margin is damaged.  A type of paper would be selected for the margin similar in color and thickness to the paper used for the text.  This way, the book would close flat, and there would not be wrinkles that would allow air to sieve through the pages.

This method of attaching a new margin would have been done with utmost care so that the paper of the text and of the margin were edge to edge and did not overlap.  Usually, the touching edges of the papers were then hidden from view with colored borders.  Because of the considerable degree of expertise and effort required to create these kinds of pages, this technique is found only in the finest of manuscripts or albums.

 

Chalipā

This is a form of writing in which the lettering is not horizontal but written at a 45 degree angle.  It is usually used for writing a couplet or a few verses of poetry in the Nasta‘liq script.

Symmetry

Symmetry is a common aspect of Islamicate arts, but at times slight varieties are embedded in seemingly symmetrical pieces, either for the sake of variety itself or because differing sizes of letters and words, which are out of the control of the artist, would disrupt the symmetry of the page.  As such, despite their symmetrical appearance, there is rarely perfect symmetry in these works.

Tazhib

The art of illuminating manuscripts or the borders of calligraphic works is called tazhib.  It is derived from the Arabic word for gold, dhahab, and it usually requires using gold.  Tazhib, however, is not exclusively in gold.  Other colors such as white, red, azure, etc. are also used.  Tazhib drawings, which have a long history, are not naturalistic drawings; rather they are based on the imagination of the artist and are thus regarded as a distinct form of drawing.

Tazhib can be understood as a specific kind of gilding, but there are two ways in which gold was employed in the traditional art of bookmaking in Iran.  In one, gold papers, which were extremely thin and brittle were used to cover all or part of the surface of a page. In the other, gold was used in liquid solutions for drawing or for writing, as in the case of tazhib.  The following is the traditional method used for making gold solutions.  A small piece of gold was placed between two pieces of leather, and hammered for a long time until a very thin layer of gold was produced.  Then, the thin layer of gold was ground in a container with gum arabic or another type of adhesive material that produced a gold solution, which was then used as ink for writing, drawing, or creating borders.