Gulzar calligraphic panel

Husayn Zarrin Qalam

1797

manuscript/mixed material

Library of Congress

Qajar era Shi'i Gulzar calligraphic panel of prayers with illustrauions of the 12 Imams written in thuluth, naskh, nasta'liq, shikastah, tawqi', and Kufi scripts by the calligrapher Husayn Zarrin Qalam. All around the larger letters composed in the nasta'liq style and filled with motifs appear smaller Shi'i prayers purposefully executed in a number of different scripts. These include thuluth, naskh, nasta'liq, shikastah, tawqi', and Kufi. One inscription is even written in reverse, as if executed with the help of a mirror. The sheer variety of these scripts, along with the larger central gulzar composition, was intended to showcase