Advanced Search 
Page with illuminated calligraphy, Tongue twister in Arabic with Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) below
Calligrapher: Mustafâ el-Kütâhî (Ottoman, 18th century)
18th century
Object Place: Turkey
Medium/Technique
Ink on paper; colored and marbled paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 13.3 × 18.8 cm (5 1/4 × 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Helen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession Number29.102
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Islamic Art
ClassificationsCalligraphy
Books and manuscripts
Books and manuscripts
Ottoman calligraphers often demonstrated their skills by writing different styles and sizes of Arabic script on rectangular sheets of paper, which were then mounted on pasteboard and assembled with colored and marbled papers into accordion fold albums, known as muraqqaʿ. In this calligraphic panel composed in the 18th century, Ottoman calligrapher Mustafâ el-Kütâhî combined an Arabic language tongue-twister written in the thuluth style of script with three lines of Hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, written in the naskh style of script. The calligraphic panel is unfinished, as indicated by the spaces between the lines of calligraphy, where verse markers would have been added by an illuminator.
DescriptionSingle folio; calligraphy in thuluth and naskh
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)
