The style is characterized by its exaggerated angularity and flattened geometrical composition. : The Eastern Kufi style of this 11th century Iranian Quran is perhaps the oldest calligraphic style of the city of Kufa in Iraq. Many calligraphers created various cursive scripts in their artistic pursuit of excellence. Elaborations, such as foliation, interfacing, and other complexities were added later to ornate the manuscript. In the 12th century, the Naskh alphabet was invented, which instead of angled lines used curved alphabet. Gradually, decoration of margin, page and other ornamentation techniques were introduced to beautify the book. Using black ink and gold leaves to write on parchment or paper, scribes employed an angled alphabet, called Kuffi and created stunning masterpieces that appeared in 8th century, and reached their apex in 10th century.

The earliest Islamic calligraphy is found in highly decorated manuscripts of Qur’an. Concern that the viewer misjudge the veneration toward the image as a substitute to that of the holy divine lay at the heart of this philosophy, as God transcends every material representation. Similar to the Law of the Old Testament, which explicitly forbids representation of the invisible and ineffable God by means of “graven or molten image” (Dt 27:15), which was at base of the Byzantine Iconoclastic debate, the Islamic philosophy is also centered on the impropriety of divine image in religious veneration, and the exact association of God and the visual representation. In fact, calligraphy has been among very few manifestations of the representational art in Islam, as the iconoclastic tradition of Islam has often discourages any figurative imagery of divine. This was a common feature of the Kufic style, but rarely practiced to such an extent as here.Ĭalligraphy from the Greek word kalligraphía ( καλλος kallos “beauty” + γραφος graphos “writing”) meaning beautiful writing plays an important role in Islam. Most striking of these is its Mashq, or extension of the horizontal axis of the letters. 750-800 AD is a unique combination of several aspects of early Kufic calligraphy style.

The Quranic script from North Africa or Near East, ca.

Islamic illuminated manuscripts