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Library acquires Arabic calligraphy collection to add to extensive holdingPrinceton NJ -- The University Library has acquired a new addition to its extensive collection of Islamic manuscripts. William J. Trezise, a New York businessman, has donated his collection of Arabic calligraphy to the library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Selected pieces of the William J. Trezise Collection of Arabic Calligraphy will go on display in the Firestone Library lobby Oct. 1.
The calligraphy expands the University Library's collection of more than 11,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and other languages of the Islamic world. Princeton owns the largest collection of Islamic manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere. Approximately two-thirds of the holdings constitute the 1942 gift of Robert Garrett, a member of the class of 1897. Carefully built over the course of more than a century, Princeton's collection continues to grow by gift and purchase. The Qur'an leaves displayed in Firestone illustrate the special place of calligraphy and luxurious rendering of the sacred word in the Islamic world, according to Don Skemer, curator of manuscripts in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. "After the Prophet Muhammad's death in A.D. 632, the revelations that constitute the Qur'an were organized into 114 Suras or chapters, and then written down in the Meccan script, a local North Semitic script that had been derived from Nabatean script," he said. "Reading from right to left, Arabic script was used to render 28 letters (based on 18 basic letter shapes, with letter pointing). Over the next 12 centuries, the Qur'an was disseminated by means of scribal copies." Until the 12th century, ornamental Kufic script was most often used to copy the Qur'an; thereafter Naskhi cursive script became most common. Other styles of fine calligraphy represented in the Trezise Collection are Thuluth, Nastaliq and Maghribi. The work of Persian and Ottoman Turkish calligraphers was particularly well known. "The elegant formation of written characters was enhanced by beautiful page design, the use of glazed or hand-polished Arabic paper, and embellishments in gold, lapis lazuli and other colors," Skemer said. "Through conquest and conversion, Arabic script spread from the Arabian peninsula to all parts of the Near East, then to Africa, Spain, the Ottoman Empire (into the Balkans), the Indian subcontinent and parts of Central and East Asia. "Through its association with religion, calligraphy became an art form that had a status not easily appreciated by most people in the West, where mechanical reproduction and electronic communication are so important," he continued. "While occupying an honored place in the arts of the Islamic world because of its role in disseminating the Qur'an, Arabic calligraphy influenced all areas of intellectual life and artistic decoration." For more information, contact Skemer at 258-3184 or dcskemer@princeton.edu. |
September 30, 2002 Contents Page one Inside People From HR Sections
Editor: Ruth Stevens |
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