The Bismillah
1875-1900
Indian
Asian Art
The Arabic phrase “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” (“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate”) opens all but one chapter of the Qur’an. Calligraphers were the most celebrated artisans in traditional Islamic cultures: to repeat the Bismillah is to repeat the word of God; to do so in beautiful script is to glorify the word of God. In this unusual calligraphic composition, the phrase is written four times: right side up, upside down, and in the reverse of each of these. Mirror writing was a common practice in India, Turkey, and Iran in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Maker/Artist
- Indian
- Classification
- Painting
- Formatted Medium
- Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Medium
- opaque, watercolor, gold, paper
- Locations
- Place made: Hyderabad, Deccan, India
- Dimensions
- sheet: 19 5/8 x 11 13/16 in. (49.8 x 30.0 cm) image: 8 15/16 x 7 5/8 in. (22.8 x 19.4 cm)
- Inscribed
- Inscriptions: In Persian in black ink above on mount: "Tughra-i bismallah al-rahman al-rahim" from catalogue: Above, in upper border, in Persian, in black ink, in Nastaliq script: Tughva [in this context, a calligraphic emblem] of "In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate."
- Departments
- Asian Art
- Accession Number
- 59.206.8
- Credit Line
- Gift of Philip P. Weisberg
- Exhibitions
- Split Second: Indian Paintings
- Rights Statement
- No known copyright restrictions
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
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