This type of découpé and appliqué paper design originated in Persia and Turkey. The calligraphic text is an Arabic quatrain in nastaliq script. It is addressed to Qanbar, the slave of the Imam Ali (son-in-law of the Prophet) who was put to death by the tyrant al-Hajjaj because of his loyalty to his master. In the background is a spiralling double scroll motif with floral offshoots.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 42 on p. 106, illus. p. 107
Imam
(from the Arabic) Leader of prayers in congregational mosques. In Shi'a Islam, imams are infalliable spiritual guides and divinely appointed successors of the prophet Muhammad.
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