Persian manuscript on paper, four lines of ta'liq/nasta'liq script, cut from white paper and laid down diagonally on brown card decorated with vegetal motifs in silver (now oxidised), text interspersed with gilt découpage florets, signed faqir Naqshi al-Muzahhib, inner margins ruled in gold, outer margins of blue card decorated with gilt floral sprays, slightly faded, framed
305 x 220 mm.

Footnotes

The art of découpage became popular in Persian courts in the 15th Century and later flourished in Istanbul workshops in the 16th Century. Naqshi, also known as Çerkesizade Abdullah Naqshi, who flourished in the first half of the 18th Century, was one of the leading artists of paper-cutting and découpage (ka'ti) at that time. He was the follower of the late 16th Century master Fahri al-Mawlawi of Bursa. An example of his work, dated AH 1133/AD 1721 is in the the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (see Nabil F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen, London 1996, pp. 196-97). Other examples appeared at Christie's, Islamic Art and Manuscripts, 15th October 2002, lot 344; Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 26th April 2012, lot 231.

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A découpage calligraphic panel in nasta'liq script, signed by Naqshi Ottoman Turkey, early 18th Century

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Oliver White