Artwork
Calligraphy of a Pious Invocation in Rhyme (verso)
Calligraphy of a Pious Invocation in Rhyme (verso) is an unspecified painting. It dates from 1599 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work is a painted page featuring black calligraphic script set against a beige ground speckled with gold.
About this work
The text is framed by a thin black border, and the letters curve and stretch in rhythmic lines.
This page shows flowing black script on a gold-speckled beige background. The text is framed by a thin black border, and the letters curve and stretch in rhythmic lines. Some words are larger, others smaller, creating a sense of movement.
The words are a religious poem, written in a style that values beauty in writing itself. This piece comes from a book made in 1597.
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Overview
The work is a painted page featuring black calligraphic script set against a beige ground speckled with gold. A narrow black frame encloses the text, whose letters undulate in rhythmic, curving lines, varying in size to suggest movement across the surface.
Subject & Meaning
The inscription consists of a devotional poem composed in rhyme, intended as a pious invocation. The emphasis lies not only in the prayerful content but also in the aesthetic appreciation of the written form itself, reflecting a cultural value placed on the beauty of script.
Technique & Style
Executed in ink on a prepared paper support, the calligraphy employs a fluid hand that stretches and contracts the strokes, creating a dynamic visual rhythm. The gold-speckled background adds a subtle luminous quality, while the thin black border delineates the textual field.
History & Provenance
The page originates from a larger manuscript produced in 1597. It now forms part of the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is displayed as an example of late‑sixteenth‑century devotional calligraphy.
Artist & collection
Page from the Poem of Beauty and Love
Page from the Poem of Beauty and Love
Page from the Poem of Beauty and Love
Page from the Poem of Beauty and Love
Calligraphy (verso)
Text of Rustam and Suhrab, from the Shah-nama of Firdausi (Persian, c. 934–1020) (verso)
Illuminated page (verso), from a Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al- Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492) with two Persian masnavis: Yusuf va Zulaykha (Joseph and Zulaykha) and Khirad-nama-i Iskandari (Alexander’s Book of Wisdom)
Illuminated page (verso), from a Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al- Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492) with two Persian masnavis: Yusuf va Zulaykha (Joseph and Zulaykha) and Khirad-nama-i Iskandari (Alexander’s Book of Wisdom)
