Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600-1900

by David J. Roxburgh, Mary McWilliams

In Islamic culture, calligraphy has long been considered a quintessential art form. This beautiful writing practice constitutes an expression of piety, and calligraphers are among the most highly esteemed artists. Traces of the Calligrapher portrays the intimate world of the calligrapher during the early modern period of Islamic culture. It brings together the “tools of the trade”—works in their own right that are rarely exhibited or published—and the exquisite art made with these functional objects in India, Iran, and Turkey.

 

This richly illustrated and fascinating book presents exceptional works of the 17th through 19th centuries, drawn primarily from an unrivaled private collection. It features pens, pen boxes, chests, tables, paper scissors, knives, burnishers, and book bindings of superb manufacture and design, accompanied by examples of calligraphy that were executed as practice exercise, occasional works, wall hangings, and manuscripts.

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2007

Reviews

[Laurita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an exceptionally lovely non-fiction picture book. It claims a great deal of knowledge about the actual process and traditions of Islamic Calligraphy, and while I do not doubt the credentials and experience of the authors (or in some reality curators, as this kind of book is almost always published to accompany an exhibit)that knowledge is not very well displayed, much less explained to the reader.

However, the focus is unusual, the photography and the selection of artifacts is just fantastic to my untrained eyes, and the text supports the visuals well, which is usually all that I ask from the text of a picture book. It would only be fair to mention that all words in Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish are transliterated in a cohesive and phonetic matter, which is better than I can say for many textbooks of those languages.

[Yingtai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very useful, a lot of objects and many of them don't have calligraphy on them even. A4 glossy paperback.