written in nasta‘liq script

11.4 x 16.7cm

The text consists of the first chapter of the Qur’an, surah al-Fatihah, and – written across it and upside down – a distich in Persian. On the right-hand side, written twice and also upside down is the colophon, in which Mir ‘Imad mentions that the piece was written in Qazvin, where he lived until 1599–1600, after which date he settled in Isfahan. He died in Isfahan in 1615. [see also MSS 609]

N.F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen. Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume V, London 1996, cat.15, pp.34–5.