This calligraphic fragment includes three <em>bayt</em>s (verses) of poetry in the main text panel and ten verses around this panel, creating a textual frame decorated with gold vine and leaf motifs. The entire calligraphic piece is pasted to a paper decorated with blue geometric and vegetal motifs highlighted in gold. The central text panel is topped by an illuminated rectangular panel and includes a decorative triangle in the upper left corner. The verses in the central panel are written in <em>nasta'liq</em> script on a white ground decorated with gold flowers. The verses read: "Why set out to the Ka'ba when the Ka'ba is your home? / The Sacred Enclosure of my Ka'ba is the threshold to your soil. / The bewitchment of your eye captures the territory of hearts, / Now all the people of the world tell your story. / How can I bring out from (my) heart the imagination of your garnet (lips)? / Because in the treasury of the heart there are many marks of you." By drawing on the imagery of Mecca, the Ka'ba, and its Sacred Enclosure (<em>harim</em>), the poet describes his affection for his beloved's eyes and lips in terms of a pilgrimage into his heart. The verses are signed by the writer (<em>al-katib</em>) Mir 'Ali (died 1543 [951 AH]), a master calligrapher who was active in Herat (Afghanistan) and Bukhara (Uzbekistan) during the 16th century.
<br>Calligraphy, Persian; Illuminations; Islamic calligraphy; Islamic manuscripts; Persian poetry; Poetry
Mīr ʻAlī Ḥusaynī Haravī, approximately 1476-1543
between 1525 and 1543 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1550-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1525-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1543-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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