A Handbook of Persian Calligraphy and Related Arts Handbook of Oriental Studies Handbuch der Orientalistik Section one The Near and Middle East Edited by Maribel Fierro (Madrid) M. Şükrü Hanioğlu (Princeton) Renata Holod (University of Pennsylvania) Florian Schwarz (Vienna) volume 109 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ho1 A Handbook of Persian Calligraphy and Related Arts By Hamid Reza Ghelichkhani Translated by Rebecca Stengel Edited, Revised and Extended by Shervin Farridnejad LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: A copy (mašq-e naqlī) by Mīrʿemād of Mīrʿalī al-Kāteb (poem also by Mīrʿalī al-Kāteb), University of Istanbul Library, no. 1426. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Qilīchʹkhānī, Ḥamīd Riz̤ā, author. | Farridnejad, Shervin, editor. | Stengel, Rebecca, translator. | Qilīchʹkhānī, Ḥamīd Riz̤ā. Farhang-i vāzhagān va iṣṭilāḥāt-i khvushnivīsī va hunarhā-yi vābastah. Title: A handbook of Persian calligraphy and related arts / by Hamid Reza Ghelichkhani ; edited, revised and extended by Shervin Farridnejad ; translated by Rebecca Stengel. Other titles: Farhang-i vāzhagān va iṣṭilāḥāt-i khūshnivīsī va hunarhā-yi vābastah. English Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022] | Series: Handbook of Oriental studies. Section 1, The Near and Middle East, 0169-9423 ; volume 109 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021034002 (print) | LCCN 2021034003 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004277472 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004432895 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Calligraphy, Persian—Dictionaries—Persian. | Islamic calligraphy—Dictionaries—Persian. | Calligraphy—Dictionaries—Persian. | Illumination of books and manuscripts, Iranian—Dictionaries—Persian. | Miniature painting, Iranian—Dictionaries—Persian. Classification: LCC NK3639.P4 Q54913 2022 (print) | LCC NK3639.P4 (ebook) | DDC 745.6/1030955—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034002 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034003 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0169-9423 ISBN 978-90-04-27747-2 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-43289-5 (e-book) Copyright 2022 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau Verlag and V&R Unipress. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. Contents Editor’s Preface vii Author’s Note xii Translator’s Note xiii List of Illustrations xiv Notes on Alphabetical Order, Pronunciation, Transcription and Dates xxiii Transcription Tables xxv Abbreviations xxvi The Persian Treatises as Primary Sources on Iranian Calligraphy 1 ‫ آ‬15 ‫ ا‬24 ‫ ب‬51 ‫ پ‬57 ‫ ت‬64 ‫ ث‬92 ‫ ج‬95 ‫ چ‬108 ‫ ح‬118 ‫ خ‬125 ‫ د‬148 ‫ ذ‬159 ‫ ر‬161 ‫ ز‬175 ‫ س‬180 ‫ ش‬194 ‫ ص‬205 ‫ ض‬214 ‫ ط‬216 ‫ ظ‬219 ‫ ع‬221 ‫ غ‬224 ‫ ف‬226 ‫ ق‬229 ‫ ک‬251 ‫ گ‬271 vi ‫ل‬ ‫م‬ ‫ن‬ ‫و‬ ‫ه‬ ‫ی‬ Contents 278 285 314 330 333 338 Appendix 1: Map of Greater Iran 341 Appendix 2: Map of the Persianate World 342 Appendix 3: Major Islamic Dynasties 344 Bibliography of Cited, Selected Related Works, and Abbreviations 345 Index of Technical Notions, Materials and Terms 367 General Index 380 Editor’s Preface The Art of Calligraphy – ḫaṭṭāṭī or ḫōšnevīsī in New Persian – is still very much a living tradition in Iran. It is undoubtedly one of the fundamental characteristics of Iranian, specifically Persianate as well as Islamicate societies during the past fourteen hundred years. After Arabic, it soon became the main vehicle for writing first New Persian, then Pashto, Kurdish, Baluchi, Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Malay and many other languages, for both Muslims and non-Muslims. This derives from the centuries-long maintenance of its classical instruction and practice and the presence and use of calligraphy as an artistic medium in everyday life for everything from commercial logotypes and urban signs to modern typography, graphic design, and painting. Therefore, many technical terms used in calligraphy and some related arts still feature in the active vocabulary of Persian speakers. Hence, the varying popularity of techniques, styles, and methods and the varying development of the traditional art of calligraphy in different schools over time has led to a heterogeneous understanding of these terms. Although there are several good general monographs dealing with Arabic manuscript tradition, palaeography, codicological phenomena and the arts of the book, there is no comprehensive introduction to the various aspects of Persian codicology and specifically Persian calligraphy. The major reference works on Arabic and Islamic codicology and palaeography are the volume Manuel de codicologie des manuscrits en écriture arabe (MC), compiled by a number of scholars under the direction of François Déroche in 2000 and made available in English and Persian (see bibliography), as well as the three seminal publications by Adam Gacek, namely The Arabic manuscript tradition (AMT) and its supplement (AMTS), the first comprehensive monographs on the codicology of manuscripts in Arabic script, and Arabic manuscripts: a vademecum for readers (AMVR), a general summary of the various elements or aspects of Arabic manuscript studies. Sheila S. Blair’s Islamic Calligraphy of 2006 (IC), also available in Persian translation, provides an excellent and exhaustive study of Islamic calligraphy in general, in which Persian calligraphy has its own place. Blair combines various individual studies and her own work into a coherent narrative, which also sketches the historical development of Perso-Arabic calligraphy. Alī Ṣafarī Āq-Qalʿe‘s recently published monograph entitled Nosḫe-šenāḫt: pažūhešnāme-ye nosḫe-šenāḫtī nosaḫ-e ḫaṭṭī-ye fārsī (= A Handbook of Persian Codicology: An Introduction to the Study of Persian Manuscripts, 2011) is specifically dedicated to the study of Persian codicology. Despite the undoubted interest in the art of Persian calligraphy and numerous related publications in the field the need for a handbook viii Editor ’ s Preface with a collection of the most important technical terms in Iranian calligraphy is greater than ever. Most of the terms included here specifically concern the Persian calligraphy and manuscript tradition. As the title indicates, this handbook contains the most important termini technici as well as expressions connected to the traditional art of calligraphy (mostly nastaʿlīq) and such related fields of the arts of the book as taẕhīb (illumination) and tašʿīr (historiated painting). A handbook of expressions, definitions and techniques will be of use to scholars of Iranian and Islamic calligraphy and to artists who seek to learn the terminology of classical Iranian and Islamic calligraphy. Whereas some of the entries concern newly coined terms, the majority are traced to their medieval usage. Entries are based on classical Persian treatises written on classical Persian calligraphy, the so-called resālāt dar ḫōšnevīsī “treatises on calligraphy”, which will be introduced below (see: “Introduction to primary sources on Iranian calligraphy”). This genre of treatises, which focuses primarily on nastaʿlīq, the main Iranian calligraphic style, has a rich tradition in Persian literature. A continuous stream of Persian calligraphic tradition flowed from the late 6th/12th c. through the following centuries. The Timurid and Safavid periods bore special witness to the blossoming of a very popular genre of instructional treatises for scribes, calligraphers, painters, illuminators, bookbinders, paper makers, etc., written not only in Persian but also in Arabic, Urdu, and Turkish, etc. The quality of these treatises and the information they contain varies widely. Treatises that were personally composed by the experts in each field display a level of accuracy, knowledge and expertise different from those that were written by students or authors who were not artists themselves. The treatises on calligraphy can be divided into the literary subgroups of prose and verse. Most treatises on calligraphy cover the same range of subjects, that is, the invention and development of the scripts. They combine legendary and historical stories; they explain the names and meanings of the calligraphic scripts; they enumerate the great calligraphy masters, and occasionally add accounts of their lives including mystical/mythical aspects. Naturally, the main body of these treatises is dedicated to the tools and objects related to calligraphy. They describe the characteristics, preparation and use of the nib, līqe (wadding), ink, and paper. Further themes are the calligraphic principles and the calligrapher’s moralmystical advancement coinciding with his progress as an expert calligrapher. Many historical treatises on calligraphy use classical Persian poetry as a vehicle to convey concepts and explain the origins of the terminology. Coupled with the scope and importance of calligraphic art in Iran, this has ensured that many technical terms became anchored in the corpus of Persian poetic vocabulary. This can especially be said of the longstanding schools of poetry, namely Editor ’ s Preface ix sabk-eʿerāqī “Iraqi-Style” from the late 6th/12th c.–9th/15th c. and sabk-e hendī “the Indian style” beginning in the 9th/15th c. Especially in the case of the latter, the use of calligraphy terms is one of the characteristic features, which forms part of the poetic imagination. In several entries, the reader will find one or several verses of poetry falling into two groups. The first group is made up of exemplary verses mentioning the technical terms of calligraphy and related arts. These are documented here as historical evidence for their use in literature. They often reflect a literary or allegorical use of the terms and do not provide any technical explanation. In this respect, the handbook will also be useful for scholars and translators of classical Persian literature. The second group consists of excerpts from the original treatises on calligraphy which used poetry as a medium for pedagogical purposes. The technical information was expressed in verse to make it more popular and easier to memorise. They combine both technical information and advice but, given its poetic nature, also features play with language and rhyme. Both the author and the editor of this volume are trained calligraphers who learned the art of calligraphy through extensive traditional study under experts in this art. The editor also practices the art of classical Iranian-Islamic illumination taẕhīb. For this reason, both are in the position to explain the classical and historical meanings and usages of the terms and objects and to integrate today’s understanding of them. Most of the present expressions and techniques are used and practiced by masters and students of calligraphy and illumination. Hence, the author and the editor base their explanations both on classical calligraphy treatises representing the traditional usage of the terms and practices and on their personal experience, which covers the living tradition of calligraphy and illumination. The editor and translator have designated a normative equivalent in English for each term. In cases where the classical connotations and the essential meaning of the terms differ vastly, both have been recorded. The entries in this handbook are generally based on two different types of sources. The first consists of a body of classical Persian treatises, some of which are edited and published, some of which are only available in original manuscript form. Each entry contains specific references to the pertinent classical treatises. The second source is the living tradition of calligraphy and illumination. The information in the entries thus combines materials from classical treatises (still in use) and personal knowledge and experience, i.e., “oral tradition”. The handicraft and techniques related to the art of calligraphy, to illumination and to traditional papermaking or bookbinding are still transmitted in the traditional learning structure of ostād-šāgerdī, the relationship of master and disciple, which implies a prolonged process of practical learning x Editor ’ s Preface and working together with an expert. This means that it is not always possible to separate the information in the entries in an exact manner. Both sets of sources are understood as “original sources”. … The structure of the work at hand is widely based on the second and expanded edition of Farhang-e vāžegān-o eṣṭelāḥāt-e ḫōšnevīsī-o honarhā-ye vābaste “A Dictionary of Calligraphy and the Related Arts” (Tehran, Rozane Publishers, 1994, 2009). For the present English version, the editor has added entries on technical calligraphy vocabulary that are of interest to European scholars but are common sense for Persian readers. Further additional entries concern the arts of taẕhīb (illumination) and tašʿīr (historiated painting), as well as terms pertaining to related disciplines. By contrast, general historical explanations of specific art-historical epochs, the history of Iranian writing in the pre-Islamic era found in the Persian edition, have been omitted because of want of precision. Several entries have been rewritten and/or supplemented to meet the needs of an Anglophone audience. Persian calligraphy and related arts cannot be studied in isolation. They share many practices, tools and phenomena connected with the Arabic, Turkish, Indian manuscript traditions, as well as the Hebrew, Greek and Latin traditions. Therefore, for the sake of convenience and quick reference, the series editors and I found it appropriate to add several important cross references to the corresponding and related entries in MC, AMT, AMTS, AMVR and to related chapters in IC and PPB. This will allow the readers to consult all these reference volumes more easily and effectively. The Persian original contains limited in-depth references to scholarly secondary sources. In its present edition, the handbook does not claim to provide exhaustive encyclopaedic references to the secondary literature, an endeavour that certainly needs to be undertaken in the future. Nevertheless, the editor has added a bibliography with a special focus on the literature written in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and European languages on various aspects of the Perso-Arabic calligraphy, oriental manuscript traditions and the art of books. Other extensive bibliographies on the greater realm of Islamic calligraphy and arts of the book, partly arranged by subject can be found most notably in AMT, AMTS & AMVR, IC and PPB. The present work is richly illustrated with specimens from calligraphy pieces, monuments, manuscripts, drawings and photos of instruments and materials specifically taken for this purpose. The Persian letters marking the beginning of each section are in the script of the most celebrated Iranian nastaʿlīq calligrapher Mīrʿemād al-Ḥasanī (ca. 961–1024/1554–1615). xi Editor ’ s Preface … Last but not least, the author and editor owe a particular debt of gratitude to Rebecca Stengel for her outstanding and hard work. Her task was clearly more than that of a simple translator. Notably worth mentioning is her untiring search for English equivalents despite all obstacles. She also designed the layout and saw to all the internal referencing – something that had been lacking in the Persian original. Her meticulous attention greatly enhanced the quality of the present edition. I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends, Khodadad Rezakhani (Princeton), who graciously advised me on historical and chronological issues, and Adam Benkato (Berkeley) who kindly assisted me in the transcriptions of Arabic words. I also wish to express my gratitude to my calligrapher friend and colleague Daryoush Mohammad Poor (London) for his helps and a wide range of suggestions. Additional thanks go to my beloved friend and brother Aidin Farridnejad (Tehran), who always has a solution for my endless technical queries and requests. On behalf of the author, translator, and myself I would also like to express gratitude to Kathy van Vliet-Leigh and Abdurraouf Oueslati, acquisitions editors of Middle East, Islam & African Studies at Brill Publishing as well as Teddi Dols, the editor of Middle East and Islamic Studies (MIA) at Brill Academic Publishers. Most specifically Abdurraouf Oueslati deserves credit for his valuable suggestions and the plan of procedure to make this volume camera ready. I am deeply thankful to Florian Schwarz (Vienna), the co-editor of the series Handbook of Oriental Studies (HdO), The Near and Middle East, for his thoughtful and extremely helpful engagement and intellectual support, without which this work would most probably not have seen the light of day. I would like also to express my gratitude to Christine Nölle-Karimi (Vienna) for her readiness to engage critically with my work. Finally, I would also like to thank the unknown reviewer who provided valuable feedback that allowed me to address important issues. In compiling this work we aim to place for the first time, a dictionary style manual of Persian calligraphy at the disposal of students and researchers, who are at a loss to understand the traditional technical language pertaining to Persian calligraphy and related arts. It is surely not free of mistakes and could be greatly improved and I sincerely hope that this will be undertaken in the near future. Shervin Farridnejad Vienna, November 2021 Author’s Note Calligraphy is one of the most important Iranian arts. For eleven centuries, from Ebn-e Moqle Šīrāzī (d. 328/940) to the present, Iranian calligraphy has not only been inextricably linked to literature and painting, but has always been present in hand-written manuscripts, inscriptions and on coins. The works of many Iranian artists in libraries and museums around the world are testament to the prominent role that Iranians have played in calligraphy in the Islamic world. The instruction of calligraphy and arts such as illumination (taẕhīb) and paper-tinting in Iran has become increasingly popular in the last three decades and has been taken up by thousands of students. This book is the first technical dictionary style handbook on Islamic calligraphy with a specific focus on Iranian calligraphy. It was first published in Tehran in 1994 and followed by a revised version in 2009. For the present revised and extended English version, the editor of this volume Shervin Farridnejad, has reconsidered, rewritten, and added numerous entries and explanations with a wider English reader audience in mind. As a result, many unnecessary entries were removed and certain explanations modified. Thus, the result is not a simple translation of the Persian version, but also in many respects a new compilation of the former data and specifically new written materials by the editor. The editor has also added a bibliography on various aspects of the Iranian calligraphy, oriental manuscript traditions and the art of books and made useful cross references to the corresponding entries in MC, AMT, AMTS, AMVR and to related chapters in IC. This handbook has attempted to bring words and expressions together that were current up to hundreds of years ago among calligraphers, scribes, illuminators, and those involved the creation of manuscripts, mainly based on classical Persian treaties. As a teacher of calligraphy and practicing calligraphers, to these the editor and I have added expressions in use in contemporary calligraphy. Each entry is followed by a succinct explanation, often accompanied by an image. Many expressions appear in old pedagogical treatises on calligraphy and were sometimes also used in Persian poetry. Supporting evidence is to be found in relevant entries. Finally, the editor and I would like to express our gratitude to all the museums, libraries, and private collection holders both in Iran and abroad for allowing us to use many of the images present in this volume. Hamid Reza Ghelichkhani Portland, Oregon, USA, April 2014