- Thuluth
Thuluth
One of the six major scripts in which the straight and angular shapes of the Kufic script where curved and the size of the letters shortened. It is one of three different scripts found on this folio. It was used by the artist to allude to the main story of this chapter of the Qur'an in Persian (on top of the page) and to number this section of the Qur'an in Arabic (side of the page). The top reads: "The story of Moses and Khizr (peace be upon them both)./His Speech, the Exalted." The side writing in the decorative box reads: "the one hundred eightieth section." - Arabic Kufic
Arabic Kufic
A style of Kufic prevalent in Arab countries. It is used here to write the Arabic words of the Qur'an.
- Persian Kufic
Persian Kufic
A style of Kufic that was prevalent in the land stretching from Azerbaijan to Khorasan, which forms a part of modern-day Iran. It is used here to give the Persian translation of the Qur'an.
- Vowel Markings
Vowel Markings
Vowel markings were not originally written in manuscripts of the Qur'an. They were gradually introduced over time to help with recitaiton and standaridization of the text of the Qur'an (see also "Gold Letter Dots").
- Gold Letter Dots
Gold Letter Dots
Early qur'anic manuscripts were devoid of any short vowel markings and letter dots. This was because the text was generally presumed to have been memorized and orally transmitted. The written text was supposed to serve as a reminder of oral text rather than serve as a definitive rendering of the divine word. Gradually, letter dots and vowels were added to the point where it became rare to see copies of the Qur'an without them. Here we see not one of the earliest examples, but nonetheless a relatively early example of the incorporation of dots and short vowels in qur'anic manuscripts. When the inclusion of short vowels and dots became a normative practice, they were generally not written in color.
- Color Scripting
Color Scripting
Whenever a phrase is not written with black or brown ink but with other colors, such as white, gold, or azure.
- Tahrir
Tahrir
This is the name given to the thin, dark lines drawn around gold letters. This allows gold letters to become more legible because gold is resembles the color of paper and does not stand out adequately from the page. The person who does tahrir is called a meh moharrer.
- Decorative Notations
Decorative Notations
All of these notations are strictly decorative and serve no orthographic function.
- 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.
- 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.
- Katibah
Katibah
A decorative rectangular box that is placed at the beginning of the text of the book, and is sometimes repeated on other pages of manuscripts. Normally, the title of the book or titles of chapters of the Qur’an are written in this space. Often, on the first page of the book, the basmalah, i.e. the phrase, “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” is written in the katibah.
- Shamsah
Shamsah
A circular decoration that is usually drawn on the beginning pages of a manuscript. Usually the name of the patron or the person to whom the manuscript is gifted is written in it.
- Eslimi
Eslimi
Decorative vine motif - Outline Around Words
Outline Around Words
In this early manuscript, words are outlined in order to demarcate their space on the page and to allow for the illumination of the rest of the page. In later manuscripts, as you'll note in other works on this website, this practices evolves into what is known as dandān mushi.
Text and Margins
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. Margins serve a particularly important purpose in works of qur’anic text, where the physical text itself could be handled only in a state of ritual purity. In such cases, wide margins allowed a person to touch the text without physically tainting the purity of the Qur’an’s words.
In this piece, the difference between text styles works to emphasize and distinguish the qur’anic text from the non-qur’anic text. Here, the rarely-used bold, angular script is used for the qur’anic text and highlights its special monumental nature, as though it were inscribed on a building. The non-qur’anic text, by comparison, is written in a lighter, rounded script which accentuates the contrast between the word of God and the word of man.
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.