03858ctm a22005175i 4500 21575206 20250607102034.5 200617s15uu ii 000 0 per 21575206 0 ibc orignew u ncip 20 y-nonroman LCAP batch update 2025-06-02-04:00: LCAPM-644 2019714634 ascs000181 DLC eng DLC Mir 'Imad (al-Hasani) al-Qazvini Verses on hidden love ca. 1550-1600 1 volume ; 30 (w) x 45 (h) cm text txt rdacontent unmediated n rdamedia volume nc rdacarrier Calligraphic panel written in black nasta'liq script with a painting depicting foxes and a landscape, created by Mir 'Imad (al-Hasani) al-Qazvini who worked in Iran, Afghanistan and India. A number of letters and words are repeated in this calligraphic panel, so as to create a playful composition that fills up the entirety of the text panel. This calligraphic game -- itself a device of dissimulation -- echoes the contents of the poem. Below the text panel and outside the text frames, a minute inscription written in black ink appears written horizontally on the beige paper decorated with gold flecks. The inscription attributes the calligraphy to the "qiblah of the calligraphers" (qiblat al-khattatin), Mir 'Imad Qazvini. The calligrapher can be identified as Mir 'Imad al-Hasani (d. 1615). He was born in 1552, spent time in Herat and Qazvin, and finally settled in Isfahan (then capital of Safavid Persia), where, as a result of his implication in court intrigues, he was murdered in 1615. He was a master of nasta'liq script, whose works were admired and copied by his contemporaries, and later collected by the Mughals (Welch et al 1987: 32-36). It is possible that this particular calligraphy was decorated by the painting of two foxes and pasted to a gold-flecked paper under the Mughals. A square seal impression in the lower right corner bearing the epithet Bahadur and the date 1186/1772-3 supports the hypothesis that this piece belonged to a Mughal patron by the second half of the 18th century at the latest. Di shana zada an mah kham-i gisura / Bar chahra nahad zulf 'anbar bura / Pushid bi-din hila ruh-i niku-ra / Ta har ka na mahram nishinashad ura Dimensions of Written Surface: 13.6 (w) x 24.3 (h) cm Other calligraphies by, or attributed to, Mir 'Imad in the Library of Congress include: 1-84-154.3, 1-84-154.43, 1-85-154.72, 1-85-154.77, 1-87-154.160, 1-90-154.162. This calligraphic panel executed in black nasta'liq script on a ground decorated with flowers painted in gold and topped by a painting depicting two foxes in a landscape describes the subterfuges of the beloved. Omitting the unrelated verses in the upper right corner, the poem reads: Yesterday that moon (the beloved) brushed the curls of her hair / Over her face, she placed her amber-smelling hair / By this stratagem, she covered her beautiful visage / So that he who is not allowed cannot see her Script: nasta'liq Calligraphy, Arabic. Calligraphy, Persian. Manuscripts, Persian Washington (D.C.) Arabic script calligraphy Illuminated Islamic manuscripts Islamic calligraphy Islamic manuscripts Nasta'liq Poetry India Iran Afghanistan Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA amedscd 2019714634 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.155 1-86-154.167 amed/ggcalligraphy