A Textile Fragment with Inscription from the Reign of Muzaffar al-Dīn Shāh with Muhtasham Kāshānī’s Poem

Inscriptions are of special status in the history of Persian calligraphy. From the Safavid period onwards, in addition to Quranic verses, some other religious invocations and poems of the Shia Islam have been inscribed as well on different media. Among such inscriptions, we can refer to a piece of poem related to Muharram and Āshūrā (the ۱۰th day of Muharram) composed by Muhtasham Kāshānī, the renowned Iranian poet of the ۱۶th century. This piece of poem started being inscribed in different regions shortly after the poet’s death. Writing inscriptions reached its artistic climax during the Qajar era as a result of the appearance of famous, great calligraphers such as Mīrzā Qulāmrizā and his apprentices like Mīrzā-‘Amū and others. Here, a textile fragment with the inscription of Muhtasham Kāshānī’s poem from the reign of Muzaffar al-Dīn Shāh Qājār is a good case in point. Having a length of about ۱۰ meters, this inscription has borders with painted flowers. We can ascribe this piece of calligraphy to Mīrzā-‘Amū, however its calligraphic style differs to some extent from that of his. Nonetheless, the superior quality and basic principles of the work reinforce its attribution to at least one of Mīrzā-‘Amū’s apprentices or someone under his influence. Today very few textile fragments with inscriptions have survived, however they were sometime produced in large numbers. Accordingly, the inscription of Muhtasham’s poem is of immense importance, both in terms of calligraphy and technical aspects.

Keywords:

Muhtasham Kāshānī , Āshūrā poem , inscriptions on textile , محتشم کاشانی , ترکیب بند عاشورایی , پارچه نویسی