Islamic Calligraphy Exhibit Opens At Sam Fogg July 14

LONDON

:Sam Fogg has been invited by the Museum fur Islamische Kunst, Berlin, to present an outstanding collection of Islamic calligraphy from July 14 to August 31. "Ink and Gold: Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy" will bring together more than 25 examples of Islamic calligraphy and illumination, covering a period of some 900 years and representing the calligraphic traditions of an area stretching from Morocco to Central Asia.

Calligraphy has been unchallenged as the supreme art of the Islamic world, reflecting the status of the Qur'an as the word of God. Although an Arabic script was in use prior to the rise of Islam, it was not until after the establishment of the Islamic empire that a system of vocalization and diacritics was established. The angular Arabic scripts that predominated in the second half of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Centuries are frequently named "Kufic," after the city of Kufa in Iraq, where this style is said to have originated.

The diffusion of Kufic styles throughout the Near East and Mediterranean is visual testimony to the exchange of ideas and goods that took place under the 'Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) which, at its height, stretched from the Atlantic to the borders of China.

Major changes in calligraphic styles took place in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, under the direction of the cultivated Timurid and Safavid rulers of Iran. This period saw the ascendancy of the nast'aliq script, which probably emerged out of the chanceries attached to the Timurid courts, but soon became the script par excellence of Persian and Turkish poetry.

The major Islamic empires that ruled the Islamic worlds after the collapse of the Timurids, such as the Safavids in Iran, the Ottomans in Anatolia, the Balkans, Syria and Egypt and the Timurids' descendants in India, the Mughal dynasty, drew heavily on the Timurid achievement.

The exhibition includes examples of calligraphy covering all these major Islamic centers from around 700 to 1550. The earliest piece on display is a monumental Qur'an leaf on vellum and written in the earliest known Arabic script usually called "Hijazi."

Alongside complete Qur'ans, Qur'an sections and leaves, exhibits from Seljuk and Mongol periods in Iran include an important treatise on the astrolabe, the quality and numerous illustrations of which reflect the great interest in scientific learning in the Thirteenth Century. This treatise is by medieval Islam's most celebrated polymath, al-Biruni (d 1048), who wrote on subjects as varied as maths, astronomy, geography and history.

The calligraphic tradition in Spain and North Africa is represented by a bifolium (double-page) from the Nurse's Qur'an, the earliest and certainly one of the most famous manuscripts that can be firmly attributed to this area.

From the same part of the world and one of the highlights of the exhibition is an illuminated Qur'an on vellum in its original early Fourteenth Century binding. It represents the very height of the Maghribi tradition of Qur'an illumination, which is seen to particular effect in the fully illuminated double pages at the beginning and end of the Qur'an. The manuscript is remarkable for its lavish use of gold, though many of the finer decorative details are enlivened with red, blue and white.

A symposium on Islamic calligraphy will be held in Berlin on July 14 to celebrate the opening of this exhibition, comprising lectures by international Islamic calligraphy experts Jonathan Bloom, Sheila Blair, Francois Deroche, Marcus Fraser, Claus-Peter Haase and Robert Hillenbrand. Topics covered will include Qur'ans of the 'Abbasid period, Qur'anic illumination in the 'Abbasid period, the Baysunghur Qur'an and Mughal calligraphy albums in Berlin.

Sam Fogg is at 15d Clifford Street. For information, +44 0207 543 2100 or www.samfogg.com.