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  • Jadval

    Jadval

    Jadval or “border” refers to the thin lines that surround the four sides of the text and separate it from the margins.  These lines come in different colors and are drawn by metal instruments known as qalam-e jadval (pens used for drawing borders).  Today, a European version of these pens, known as Terling, is used. The thickness of the lines could be adjusted by turning a screw on the handle of the qalam-e jadval.

  • Sarluh

    Sarluh

    The decoration painted on top of the page where the text of a manuscript begins.  Sometimes, in collected works, there is a sarluh at the beginning of each chapter or section.

  • Nim-toranj

    Nim-toranj

    Nim-toranj literally means half of a toranj, and a toranj is a circular or oval decorative motif used to illuminate manuscripts.

  • Katibah

    Katibah

    A decorative rectangular box that is placed at the beginning of the text of a book, and is sometimes repeated on other pages of manuscripts.  Normally, the title of the book or titles of chapters of the Qur’an are written in this space.  Often, on the first page of the book, the basmalah, i.e. the phrase, “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,” is written in the katibah. Here you can see the katibah is decorative and contains no writing.

  • Siyāh Qalam

    Siyāh Qalam

    A sketch which is entirely drawn with black and grey ink.

  • Sin in Nasta‘liq

    Sin in Nasta‘liq

    In the Nasta‘liq script, in order to avoid confusion between the letters sin (س) and shin (ش), three dots are written under sin (س).  Furthermore, when the sin (س) is written without the teeth, the writing of three dots under the sin (س) helps with legibility.  By way of example, it helps us distinguish between the word جم, which means “multitude,” and جسم, which means “body.”

  • Genitive Hamzah

    Genitive Hamzah

    Nouns that end in a silent ha’ (ه) are marked as genitive in noun constructs with a hamzah (ء), which is pronounced as ye.  This genitive hamzah is often not written, which makes its appearance here noteworthy.

  • Kāf and Gāf in Nasta‘liq

    Kāf and Gāf in Nasta‘liq

    Because modern Persian is written with the Arabic alphabet and there is no hard "g" sound in Arabic, until recently, in many inscriptions and calligraphic writings, the letter gāf (گ), which makes the hard “g” sound, was written exactly like the Arabic letter kāf (ک), which makes the “k” sound.

  • Eslimi

    Eslimi

    Decorative vine motif
  • Shāh ‘Abbāsi

    Shāh ‘Abbāsi

  • Khattā’i

    Khattā’i

  • Dandān Mushi

    Dandān Mushi

    Literally, "mousy (or mouse-like) teeth." It refers to the cloud-like demarcations used around words in illuminated manuscripts.
  • Imprint from ink on the opposite page

    Imprint from ink on the opposite page

Opening page of Pandnāma-ye Loqmān in Nasta‘liq script. Malek National Library, No. 6011.

Text and Margins

The relationship between the text and margin is noteworthy when the paper used for the text and the paper used for the margin are different.

Margins are generally distinguished from the text with thin lines, called borders or jadval.  Depending on the fineness of the manuscript or book, it could have multiple margins of varying colors.  In fine manuscripts and albums, the paper for the text and the margin are usually of a differing type and color.  Sometimes, the text of a book would be written on two pieces of thin paper that were glued together so that there would not be a shadow from the text on the other side of the page.  For this reason, the paper used for the margin of the page would often be twice as thick as the paper used for the text.  When a single page was used to write on both sides, attention would be paid to choosing a paper with similar thickness with the text in order to avoid wrinkles.  

This is usually done when the margin is damaged.  A type of paper would be selected for the margin similar in color and thickness to the paper used for the text.  This way, the book would close flat, and there would not be wrinkles that would allow air to sieve through the pages.

This method of attaching a new margin would have been done with utmost care so that the paper of the text and of the margin were edge to edge and did not overlap.  Usually, the touching edges of the papers were then hidden from view with colored borders.  Because of the considerable degree of expertise and effort required to create these kinds of pages, this technique is found only in the finest of manuscripts or albums.

 

Symmetry

Symmetry is a common aspect of Islamicate arts, but at times slight varieties are embedded in seemingly symmetrical pieces, either for the sake of variety itself or because differing sizes of letters and words, which are out of the control of the artist, would disrupt the symmetry of the page.  As such, despite their symmetrical appearance, there is rarely perfect symmetry in these works.

Tazhib

The art of illuminating manuscripts or the borders of calligraphic works is called tazhib.  It is derived from the Arabic word for gold, dhahab, and it usually requires using gold.  Tazhib, however, is not exclusively in gold.  Other colors such as white, red, azure, etc. are also used.  Tazhib drawings, which have a long history, are not naturalistic drawings; rather they are based on the imagination of the artist and are thus regarded as a distinct form of drawing.

Tazhib can be understood as a specific kind of gilding, but there are two ways in which gold was employed in the traditional art of bookmaking in Iran.  In one, gold papers, which were extremely thin and brittle were used to cover all or part of the surface of a page. In the other, gold was used in liquid solutions for drawing or for writing, as in the case of tazhib.  The following is the traditional method used for making gold solutions.  A small piece of gold was placed between two pieces of leather, and hammered for a long time until a very thin layer of gold was produced.  Then, the thin layer of gold was ground in a container with gum arabic or another type of adhesive material that produced a gold solution, which was then used as ink for writing, drawing, or creating borders.