Filecabinet
14 November 2008A peek at a 15th century scroll of the Koran
These photographs of a 15th century Ottoman scroll of the Koran come from historian Rachel Leow, who took them at the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore. This is how she describes what you’re seeing:
There are two levels of wording on the scroll. The large Arabic letters, unravelling in perfect thulth script across the scroll, form a prayer, beginning with the invocation of Allah’s blessings on Muhammad, followed by the names of the twelve Shiite Imams and an invocation to ?Ali. But those letters are shaped from smaller words: in fact, no less viagra kaufen than the words of the entire Qur’an, painstakingly inscribed in tiny tiny ghubar script according to the design of the larger prayer…
It’s an incredible work of art, and it must have been tremendously difficult to execute. How much planning would it take to get the entire Koran spaced out just right so that it spelled out the initial prayer and invocation? Not to mention the years of training to be able to write with such tiny calligraphy.
Leow collects and shares photos of extraordinary books and book environments — bookstores and libraries — on her blog.
– Carolyn Kellogg
Photos by Rachel Leow
Related posts: Bandy, Philadelphia world series parade, Artie phillips, Scariest movies of all time, Guy gibson smith
3 Responses to ' Filecabinet '
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
on November 30th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
[...] posts: Filecabinet, T3200, Winnie mandela, Artie phillips, Nyc department of [...]
on December 7th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
[...] posts: Filecabinet, Commutations, Woman with giant legs, Winnie mandela, Command and [...]
on December 25th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
[...] posts: Filecabinet, Is richard simmons gay, Funny commercials, Artie phillips, [...]