Ibn Muqlah

Ibn Muqlah

Abu 'ali Muhammad Ibn 'ali Ibn Muqlah Shirazi (Persian: ابن مقله شیرازی) of Iranian Origin (born 886 in Baghdad--died 20 July 940 there) was an Islamic calligrapher, one of the foremost of the Abbasid age. It is thought that he invented the thuluth script, the first cursive style of Arabic, though none of his original work remains.

Ibn Muqlah was also a government official. By age 22 he was a scribe as well as two other important jobs. He was the visier three times under the Abbasaid caliph in Baghdad. After years of fighting for causes he believed in, he was public disgraced and imprisoned in 936. After four years of maltreatment, he died.

It is said that writing poured from his hands, and to his followers he was considered a prophet and a hero. Along with Ibn al-Bawwab and Yaqut al-Musta'simi, he is considered the founder of the modern syle.

While Ibn Muqlah often was credited with the invention of the cursive scripts like Nasta'liq and other sitta styles, it can be said with fair certainty that he invented no script styles at all. Instead, he applied to the whole available art of calligraphy specific reformist canons which amounted to a new method for transcribing already familiar scripts. He provided the means for replacing more individual calligraphic inclinations with styles based on ordered, objective, and universally applicable rules. Thus, his khatt al-mansub (proportioned script) offered for the first time in Islamic calligraphy a fixed unit of measurement -- the rhomboid point of ink lift by the pressure of the reed pen in one spot. The upright vertical stroke of the alif was to be measured in its terms -- some scripts made alifs of three points in height, other, five or even seven. Curving letters,c like the nun which formed a half circle, had diameters the size of their script's alif; and every letter stood in fixed relation to the alif or the rhomboid point. Script was now regulated on geometric principles, and the passion for mathematics and musical harmony that characterized so much of medieval Islamic culture found another outlet in this central Muslim art.

Unfortunately, no authentic work in Ibn Muqlah's hand is known to exist, but his principles are clear. They rapidly became influential but apparently were viewed as too strictly governed by mathematical certainties for two generations later Ibn al-Bawwab was credited with bringing artistry to Ibn Muqlah's rules

[http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/خط_عربي]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ibn Muqlah — ▪ Islamic calligrapher in full Abū ʿalī Muḥammad Ibn ʿalī Ibn Muqlah born 886, Baghdad died 940, Baghdad       one of the foremost calligraphers of the ʿAbbāsid Age (750–1258), reputed inventor of the first cursive style of Arabic lettering, the… …   Universalium

  • Ibn al-Bawwāb — ▪ Arab calligrapher in full  Abū Al ḥasan ʿalī Ibn Hilāl Ibn Al bawwāb,  also called  Ibn As sitrī  born 10th century, , Iraq died 1022 or 1031, Baghdad       Arabic calligrapher of the ʿAbbāsid Age (750–1258) who reputedly invented the cursive… …   Universalium

  • naskhī script — ▪ calligraphy       Islāmic style of handwritten alphabet developed in the 4th century of the Islāmic era (i.e., the 10th century AD). From the beginning of Islāmic writing, two kinds of scripts existed side by side those used for everyday… …   Universalium

  • 886 — For the processors, see 80886 8th generation x86 like Opteron and Core 2 . NOTOC EventsBy PlaceEurope* The Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Cyril and Methodius, missionaries from Constantinople, is adopted in the Bulgarian Empire. * Alfred the… …   Wikipedia

  • 934 — Années : 931 932 933  934  935 936 937 Décennies : 900 910 920  930  940 950 960 Siècles : IXe siècle  Xe siècle …   Wikipédia en Français

  • calligraphy — calligrapher, calligraphist, n. calligraphic /kal i graf ik/, calligraphical, adj. calligraphically, adv. /keuh lig reuh fee/, n. 1. fancy penmanship, esp. highly decorative handwriting, as with a great many flourishes: She appreciated the… …   Universalium

  • taʿlīq script — ▪ calligraphy       in Arabic calligraphy, cursive style of lettering developed in Iran in the 10th century. It is thought to have been the creation of Ḥasan ibn Ḥusayn ʿAlī of Fars, but, because Khwājah ʿAbd al Malik Buk made such vast… …   Universalium

  • Yaqut al-Musta'simi — (également yakoute i Musta simi), mort en 1298, était un célèbre calligraphe et le secrétaire du dernier calife abbasside Al Musta sim à Bagdad. Il continua ensuite sous les Mongols après la chute du califat abbasside en 1258. Il a codifié six… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • 936 — NOTOC EventsBy PlaceAsia* King Taejo of Goryeo (Wanggeon) defeats Hubaekje. * The Later Tang Dynasty falls to the Later Jin Dynasty, founded by Shi Jingtang (posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Jin) in China. * The Sixteen Prefectures, which… …   Wikipedia

  • 940 — NOTOC EventsBy PlaceAsia* Saadia Gaon compiles his siddur (Jewish prayer book) in Iraq. * Narita san Temple is founded in Chiba, Japan. * The Liao Dynasty abolishes the requirement that a younger sister replace an older sister who died in… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”