Kufic

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Banna'i on a minaret – a repetitive pattern of square Kufic inscriptions
Calligraphy
Drawing of an inscription of Basmala in Kufic script, 9th century. The original is in the Islamic Museum in Cairo (Inventar-Nr. 7853)

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Kufic developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name, and other centres.[1] Until about the 11th century it was the main script used to copy Qur'ans.[1] Professional copyists employed a particular form of kufic for reproducing the earliest surviving copies of the Qur'an, which were written on parchment and date from the 8th to 10th centuries.[2]

Occurrence

Kufic was prevalent in manuscripts from the 8th to 10th centuries.[3]

Kufic is commonly seen on Seljuk coins and monuments and on early Ottoman coins. Its decorative character led to its use as a decorative element in several public and domestic buildings constructed prior to the Republican period in Turkey.

The current flag of Iraq uses Kufic script to write ألله أكبر Allahu Akbar.

Square or geometric Kufic

Square or geometric Kufic is a very simplified rectangular style of Kufic widely used for tiling. In Iran sometimes entire buildings are covered with tiles spelling sacred names like those of God, Muhammad and Ali in square Kufic, a technique known as banna'i.[4]

Western imitations

Main article: Pseudo-Kufic

"Pseudo-Kufic", also "Kufesque", refers to imitations of the Kufic script, made in a non-Arabic context, during the Middle Ages or the Renaissance: "Imitations of Arabic in European art are often described as pseudo-Kufic, borrowing the term for an Arabic script that emphasizes straight and angular strokes, and is most commonly used in Islamic architectural decoration".[5]

Gallery

  • Kufic script from an early Qur'an manuscript, 7th century. (Surah 7: 86–87)

  • Manuscript of the Surat Maryam of the Quran; Kufic script on gazelle skin, 9th century. (Surah 19: 83–86).

  • Folio of a Quran in kufic style, ink, color and gold, 11th century, Iran. (Surah 91: 1–5)

  • Kufic script, 8th or 9th century (Surah 48: 27–28) Quran.

  • 11th-century gold Fatimid armlet, inscribed with good wishes in the Kufic script, (Syria).

  • Page from a Qur'an in Kufic style (Surah 15: 67–74)

  • Kufic alphabet, from Fry's Pantographia (1799)

  • Geometric Kufic sample (Surah 112, al-Ikhlas or "The Surah of Monotheism", of the Qur'an), read clockwise, starting at bottom left.

  • Geometric Kufic from the Bou Inania Madrasa (Meknes); the text reads بركة محمد or barakat muḥammad, i.e. Muhammad's blessing.

  • Another example of geometric or square Kufic script, showing four instances of the name Muhammad; often used as a tilework pattern in Islamic architecture

  • The leaves from this Koran written in gold and contoured with brown ink have a horizontal format.

  • Inscription in Kufic (743). The Walters Art Museum.

See also


Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Arabic scripts". British Museum. Retrieved 13 March 2013. 
  2. ↑ "The Spirit of Islam: Experiencing Islam through Calligraphy". UBC Museum of Anthropology. Retrieved 13 March 2013. 
  3. ↑ ؟
  4. ↑ Jonathan M. Bloom; Sheila Blair (2009). The Grove encyclopedia of Islamic art and architecture. Oxford University Press. pp. 101, 131, 246. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1. Retrieved 4 January 2012. 
  5. ↑ Mack, p.51

References

  • Mack, Rosamond E. Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300–1600, University of California Press, 2001 ISBN 0-520-22131-1

External links

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