Three illuminated leaves from a fine Calligraphic Album,

£2,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

Three attractive calligraphic panels, probably dispersed from a larger album of Ottoman calligraphic specimens compiled in the late seventeenth-century. Though neither of these leaves have any scribal attribution, the calligraphy is of a good quality and evidently penned by a skilled hand showcasing both thuluth and naskh styles on each folio. Furthermore, the contemporary borders show delicately painted arabesques in gilt and the roundels marking the verses are of varying designs and styles. Three single folios from a calligraphic album, illuminated manuscripts on paper, in Arabic, containing Hadiths of the Prophet, each page 235 x 165 mm; each leaf consisting of one line written in larger thuluth script in black ink, above a panel containing four lines of text written in smaller naskh script on a pink ground, this panel flanked by gold-sprinkled panels, outer borders with bold stylised foliate motifs outlined in gold on a buff ground, reverse with green paper backing, edges in dark brown, light surface rubbing, a few smudges; all floated in modern cream card mounts.

• Binding: Hardcover

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