AN ALBUM PAGE OF NASTA'LIQ CALLIGRAPHY, PERSIA OR DECCAN, 17TH CENTURY

Album page, ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, five lines written horizontally in nasta'liq script on cream and blue paper with interlinear gilt decoration, mounted on an album leaf with inner borders of pink and blue paper decorated with gold floral scrolls, outer borders of cream paper boldly illuminated with large floral scrolls in colours and gold

Adrienne Minassian, New York, 1955

The text of this folio consists of two couplets from a ghazal of Hafiz. The middle line, which is a single verse, is not identified.

The border decoration is executed in a very bold and flamboyant manner, which might point to a Deccani rather than Persian origin.