A CALLIGRAPHIC MURAQQA' ALBUM PAGE
The calligraphy Safavid Iran, late 16th - 17th century; the album page Qajar Iran, 19th century

Persian calligraphy on paper laid on buff cardboard, the album page composed of three panels, comprising a horizontal calligraphic composition reading ghazal 72 by Salim Tehrani (d. 1647) in chalipa format within a band of smaller kitabat nasta’liq poetry, reversed in gold cloud-bands in-filled with scrolling polychrome-painted and gold flowers; a vertical panel with two lines from ghazal 170 by Amir Shahi (a 15th-century Timurid poet), inscribed Reza Abbasi, reserved against similar gold cloud-bands enhanced with flowering sprays; and a siyah qalam (pen and black ink) drawing of a div in combat with a dragon, inscribed ‘the evening of Wednesday, the 12th of Shawwal 1038 AH (4th June 1629 AD), Mu’in Musavvir', encased within horizontal bands of black ink prose from the Munajat (supplications) of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, 39cm x 25.3cm including the mount.