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communicate. Most of the early arts like the Egyptian hieroglyphics which were only
drawn by artists who knew what they were doing. Later languages developed into
more communication sources than artistic. Many different groups put their artwork
and writing on different levels. But the calligraphic Arabic language is written
without vowels and without many punctuation rules, there are no capital letters. 1It
is a language which puts the artist’s skills and the communication part in one
writing. The Qur’an is written in the script which had very much evolved from the
The artwork that I picked to do my paper on is from the 14 thcentury Iran. The
Qur’an is a sacred object and a sacred text; it has to be treated with respect. There
are many different versions of Arabic but in this specific artwork, it seems to be
Muhaqqaq that is being used as the written language. In Iran, there is a dominant
population of people who talk in Farsi in the present but when this was written,
there could have been both a mix of Arabic and Farsi being spoken.
The Arabic script formed around the 4th century and had many different forms
of writing it. The most prominent is still Naskhi. Other scripts like the kufic, thuluth,
syatath, and muhaqqaq were also used but most were regional and had some sort
of an artistic touch to them. Kufic was used for work on stones and metal.2
The Arabic world had a lot of different styles of calligraphy and there were
always two main forms of calligraphy used. 3One for business, daily use and easy
writing and the other for art and creative purposes. Naskhi was used as the
business and daily correspondence cursive script. It is still in use and is the most
2
4
widely used in the Arabic world. Naskhi script was in use by the 4th century and is
often said to have been developed by Ibn Muqlah and Ibn al-Bawwah. Naskhi is used
Qur’an, which are respected and kept in good condition, it has to have lasted
through time easily. The way it’s written, the ink is not smeared or any that would
In my opinion, the Qur’an is a beautiful artwork, this piece I saw and many
others I have seen, it presents the difference of the way Arabic has been written
throughout time which is a good way to look at history. The artwork at this museum
shows different types of artwork and lets you compare the different areas in one
place.
3
1"Naskh." Wikipedia. 2008. 17 Oct. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naskh_(script)>.