‘Essence of Soul’ Displaying Nastaleeq Works at Mojdeh

An exhibition of calligraphy works written in Nastaleeq script opened at Mojdeh Art Gallery in Tehran on November 4.

Titled ‘Essence of Soul’, the exhibit includes a total of 25 artworks created by the young calligrapher Sadeq Nouri, 35, Honaronline reported.

In the opening ceremony, tributes were paid to the late Iranologist, scholar of Persian Language, expert in manuscripts, codicologist and translator Mozafar Bakhtiar.

Bakhtiar (1944-2015) was a professor at Tehran University and professor emeritus at the University of Beijing. As he was fond of Nastaleeq script he was commemorated at the opening of the calligraphy show, which was warmly welcomed by the artists.

Elaborating on the title of the exhibit, Nouri said, “I have taken it from one of my favorite lines from a poem of Hafez,” the 14th century Persian poet. Almost half of the displayed works are based on Hafez’s poetry and the rest on Qur’anic verses and poetry by other classical poets including the 13th century Persian poet Rumi.

  Illuminations

The calligraphy works are decorated with illuminations on the page margins which have added more charm to the works.

This is Nouri’s first solo exhibition where he has created large-scale illuminated manuscripts - a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with decoration such as borders and illustrations - which he believes is very difficult. “This is the first time illuminated scripts as large as these are produced and it was really a tough job to do.”

According to the artist, another unique feature is the paper which he has used. It is hand-made.

Nastaleeq is one of the main calligraphic styles used in writing the Persian script. It was developed in Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries and has extensively been practiced in Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and other countries for written poetry as a form of art.

The works are on show until November 11 at the gallery located at No. 27, East 18th St., North Allameh St., Sa’adat Abad neighborhood.