What is it about?
Through the study of the materiality of three works from collections in Doha, Paris and Amsterdam, this paper intends to fill a gap in the knowledge of découpage calligraphy in Iran and shed light on its production processes. First, the origins and the context of the art will be explored through ancient and modern sources, followed by an examination of the tools used and the techniques of production, and finally an insight into the purpose or la raison d’être of the découpage technique will be presented.
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Why is it important?
Cut-out calligraphies of Iran, Turkey and other Islamic countries have been admired and praised for centuries. Curiously, they have not been studied in depth, either from art history point of view of or from technical and material aspects . This essay provides a technical and material interpretation of a few specimens dating from the beginning of this art form, from 1490 to 1550.
Perspectives
I started studying cut-out calligraphies 8 years ago, when I was working at the Qatar Museum of Islamic Art. There, I had the chance to closely examine two folios from the Divan of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (Herat 1490). Over the following years, other specimens were added to this research project, until I was finally able to publish this article, the result of 8 years of reading, study and observation. I hope that this article will shed light on this specific art form that remains globally unstudied by researchers. I also hope that this article will pave the way for future research projects and allow me to have access to other specimens held in worldwide collections.
Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes
Museum Volkenkunde
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cut-Out Calligraphy from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Discussion of Its Origins and Significance and Observations on the Techniques and Tools Used, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, December 2021, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/26666286-12340016.
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