page_title: Thuluth
hierarchical_section_title: Thuluth
caption_attribution_description: English: Dimensions of Written Surface: 12.6 (w) x 4.7 (h) cm Script: thuluth This calligraphic panel includes a single line of Arabic text executed in black thuluth script. A simple prayer towards God, it reads: Yakad yumasikuhu 'irfan rahatihi rukn al-hatim / The grasping of God (al-hatim) brings the knowledge of His comfort. The line of text is executed on beige paper and outlined in a cloud band on a gold background. It also is provided with a number of colored frames and is pasted to a larger sheet of orange paper backed by cardboard. The lower left corner of the line of text contains a square seal impression with the barely legible names: 'abduhu (his servant) Muhsin (or Muhyi) al-Musavi and the date 1154/1741-2. Above the line of text and in the center of the green frame appears a minute a posteriori inscription, which reads: khatt-i marhum 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, shahir bi-Mawlana 'Alabeg ast ("the handwriting of the deceased 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, who is known as Mawlana 'Alabeg"). 'Ala al-Din Tabrizi was a calligrapher active during the reign of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76), for whom he executed royal decrees (firmans). He executed a number of inscriptions placed on buildings in the cities Tabriz, Karbalah, and Qazvin (Safwat 1996: 84-88 and cat. no. 43, and 134-5, cat. no. 65; Huart 1972, 103; and Qadi Ahmad 1959, 79). Although the later inscription attributes the specimen to 'Ala' al-Din, it is unclear whether this Arabic prayer indeed was written by the great Safavid master calligrapher.
context_page_description: Thuluth is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name comes. An alternative theory to the meaning is that the smallest width of the letter is one third of the widest part. It is an elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form.
context_section_description: Thuluth (Arabic: ثُلُث‎, Persian: ثلث‎ sols, Turkish: Sülüs, from thuluth "one-third") is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name (meaning "a third" in Arabic) comes. An alternative theory to the meaning is that the smallest width of the letter is one third of the widest part. It is an elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form.
caption: A simple Islamic prayer in the Thuluth script. Translation: the grasping of God brings the knowledge of His comfort.
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