Sultan ‚Ali al-Mashhadi — Illuminated Frontispiece of a Manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds) | Islamic Calligraphy Art Print

A page of black nasta’liq verse in two columns fills a gold panel edged by two narrow bands of dark-blue and gold scrolling arabesque. Above and below, a lobed gold cartouche holds a single line of black script within a wide dark-blue border of gold, red and cream floral scrollwork. At the left edge, a cusped teal-and-blue palmette medallion projects into the buff outer margin, which itself carries a fine gold floral diaper pattern.

The original: the illuminated frontispiece of a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds), Herat, present-day Afghanistan; text dated 892 AH/1487 CE, illumination about 1600. Calligraphy by Sultan ‚Ali al-Mashhadi, illumination by Zain al-‚Abidin al-Tabrizi. Ink, opaque watercolour, silver and gold on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Sultan Ali Mashhadi (died 1520) was the foremost master of nasta’liq at the Timurid court of Herat. A native of Mashhad, he spent many years in Herat under the princes Abu Sa’id and Sultan Husayn Mirza, knew the poet Jami and the statesman Ali-Shir Nava’i, and left dated calligraphy from 1461 to 1515. Manuscripts and album pages in his hand, among them a 1487 copy of Attar’s Language of the Birds, are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.