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Before a calligrapher-in-training can become a full-fledged calligrapher, they must study under someone who has mastered calligraphy. They go back to basics, learning how to carefully construct the most basic of letters, then they practice, practice, and practice. Sometimes that means doing things you would never otherwise do, like learning how to put letters next to each other that wouldn’t usually go together. It’s a test for artistic ability. If you can read Persian or Arabic, some of the letters strung together here might seem like nonsense. They are and they aren’t: the larger lines of text are not real words, but a calligrapher strung them together to show us they practiced and can construct letters beautifully.
The small Persian text across the middle of the paged contain verses from the Bustan of Sa’di. On the page currently on view in the Arts of Islamic Culture gallery at the MFA are words spoken to a moth that wants to burn itself up in a candle’s flame, urging it to resist:
You are not a salamander, don't circle the fire.
Bravery is for the battlefield.
A blind mouse hides from the sun
for it is folly to oppose an iron-fisted one.
Album of calligraphy
Safavid period
1530–1600
Object Place: Iran
Medium/Technique
Ink, color and gold on paper; binding, leather
Dimensions
Height x width: 15.8 x 22.4 cm (6 1/4 x 8 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Helen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession Number29.56
CollectionsAsia, Islamic Art
ClassificationsBooks and manuscripts
Before a calligrapher-in-training can become a full-fledged calligrapher, they must study under someone who has mastered calligraphy. They go back to basics, learning how to carefully construct the most basic of letters, then they practice, practice, and practice. Sometimes that means doing things you would never otherwise do, like learning how to put letters next to each other that wouldn’t usually go together. It’s a test for artistic ability. If you can read Persian or Arabic, some of the letters strung together here might seem like nonsense. They are and they aren’t: the larger lines of text are not real words, but a calligrapher strung them together to show us they practiced and can construct letters beautifully.
The small Persian text across the middle of the paged contain verses from the Bustan of Sa’di. On the page currently on view in the Arts of Islamic Culture gallery at the MFA are words spoken to a moth that wants to burn itself up in a candle’s flame, urging it to resist:
You are not a salamander, don't circle the fire.
Bravery is for the battlefield.
A blind mouse hides from the sun
for it is folly to oppose an iron-fisted one.
DescriptionPurple leather binding with stamping; stamping is highlighted by gold ink outlining the indentations. Interior sheets lined with ribbon featuring nasta'liq script.
InscriptionsThe last folio presents the traditional formula used from the 16th century onward: mufradat-e naskh-e tal'liq 'ala tarriq-e wadi' al-awl Khwaje Mir 'Ali Tabrizi (Mufradat of nasta'liq (following) the method of the inventor of the prototype Khwaje Mir Ali Tabrizi
ProvenanceMiss Elizabeth (Riefstahl) Titzel (b. 1889 - d. 1986), New York; 1929, sold by Miss Elizabeth (Riefstahl) Titzel to the MFA for $5000.00 (total price for 29.56-136). (Accession Date: January 3, 1929)