calligraphy – Page 5 – { feuilleton }

Ghubar

Ghubar calligraphy by Hassan Massoudy.

Ghubar (or “dust” in Arabic) is the name of a special kind of calligraphic script. As its name implies, ghubar can be as delicate as particles of dust on a piece of paper. Words written in this script can be as fine as a single hair.

Originally designed for messages being sent by carrier pigeon, ghubar script compresses information into the smallest possible space. The technique involves writing minuscule inscriptions that usually measure about 1.3 millimeters in height, and rarely exceed 3 millimeters. Apart from its postal function, ghubar was used by calligraphers in three ways: for the production of scrolls; for esoteric, talismanic and magical writings; and for copies of the Qur’an.

More here.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East

Masterpieces of Persian painting

Shamseh, Unknown artist, Indian Moraqqa?.
First half of 17th century, Golestan Palace.

Sixteen pages of paintings at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Prince Iskandar’s horoscope
• Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East

The horoscope of Prince Iskandar, grandson of Tamerlane, the Turkman Mongol conqueror, by Imad al-Din Mahmud al-Kashi, showing the positions of the heavens at the moment of Iskandar’s birth on 25th April 1384.

From the Wellcome Trust image collection. Considering the Wellcome Trust’s medical background, there’s a surprising amount of non-scientific material in its image library, not least a collection devoted to Witchcraft. This perhaps reflects the wide-ranging interests of the Trust’s founder, Henry Wellcome. Jay Babcock and I visited the exhibition of artefacts from Wellcome’s vast collection at the British Museum in 2003 and that proved to be a similarly surprising cabinet of curiosities, including sheets of tattooed human skin and Charles Darwin’s skull-headed walking stick. I was sure I had a photograph of the latter but don’t seem able to find it if it’s still around. Never mind, the BBC has a picture, together with other items from the exhibition. Also on display there was a specially-commissioned film from the Brothers Quay which can now be seen in their DVD collection.

Via Boing Boing.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani
• The Brothers Quay on DVD
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East
• The Atlas Coelestis of Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr

Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani

Beautiful work. Via growabrain.

Update: “A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians.” Full story here.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East

The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy

Seeing as we’re living through a period of recurrent paranoia and hysteria, with a whole state of matter being declared dangerous, with people falling under suspicion for not being white, and with events like this a daily occurrence, one can only wonder how we endured thirty years of deadly IRA terrorism in this country without panic in the streets or the nation turning into a police state.

Useful then to be reminded of some of the many positive aspects of Arab culture which is exactly what the Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy is devoted to. This is a new blog so there isn’t much there just yet (although what’s there is gorgeous) but I look forward to seeing what they post in the future.

Via the excellent BibliOdyssey.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East