The Martyrdom of Saint Clement I, Pope
This sheet constitutes a study, with several variations, for a fresco painted by Agostino Ciampelli in 1596-1597 on one of the end walls of the Canon's Sacristy in San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome, on the commiss... more
Facsimile of Painting in the Chapel of Peace, Bagawat Necropolis, Kharga Oasis
Charles K. Wilkinson
Three Poems from the “Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern” (Kokin wakashū), known as the “Araki Fragment” (Araki-gire)
Calligraphy traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari (Kōzei) (Japanese, 972–1027) late Heian period (ca. 900–1185)
Facsimile of the Apse Painting in Tomb 25, Bagawat Necropolis, Kharga Oasis
Charles K. Wilkinson
Coptic Manuscript
Found Egypt
Leaves from a Coptic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Manuscript Leaves from an Arabic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Leaf from a Coptic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Leaves from a Coptic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Manuscript Leaves from an Arabic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Leaves from a Coptic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
Manuscript Leaves from an Arabic Manuscript
Made in Byzantine Egypt
A Mirror of Gathered Seaweed (Mokagami) Calligraphy Album
Albums of exemplary calligraphy specimens, referred to as tekagami, or “mirrors of the hand,” demonstrate the high esteem in which the art of brush writing has been held in Japan, as in East Asia more generally... more
Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
"Rooster", Folio from a Dispersed Manuscript
Found Egypt, Fustat
Paper Cut-Out
Made in Egypt
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
Attributed to Iran
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
Made in Eastern Islamic Lands
Paper Cut-Out
Made in Egypt
Paper Cut-Out
Made in Egypt
Page of Calligraphy
Made in Egypt
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
This folio, copied in floriated "new style" script, exhibits a striking balance of rigorous discipline and exuberant imagination. The fourth line of text is much larger than the rest and its vertical letters en... more
"Hare", Folio from the Mantiq al-wahsh (Speech of the Wild Animal) of Ka'b al-Ahbar
This page from a zoological manuscript contains lines of text and two drawings of wild animals, a lion (recto) and a hare (verso). Although fragmentary pages with drawings are not uncommon from the Fatimid peri... more
Fragment of a Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
Excerpts from Bai Juyi's "Biography of a Master of Drunken Poetry" (Suigin sensei den)
Comprising just four columns of Chinese calligraphy removed from a long handscroll, this precious fragment of early eleventh-century calligraphy has been mounted as a hanging scroll. It was brushed by the celeb... more
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
The manuscript to which this page once belonged, copied in floriated "new style" script, exhibits a striking balance of rigorous discipline and exuberant imagination. The calligrapher pushes the boundaries of t... more
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
Attributed to Egypt
End Paper
Made in Egypt
Section from a Quran Manuscript
Attributed to Egypt
"Rows of Animals Alternating with Cut-off Heads", Folio from a Manuscript
Found Egypt, Fustat
Scroll of Mudras
This handscroll depicts hand gestures known as mudras in Sanskrit, the Indian language in which many early Esoteric Buddhist texts were written. In Japan, the gestures are called insō, the Japanese term for a C... more
Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
This folio from a Qur’an is written on paper in black new style script, with vocalizations in red, diacritical marks in gold, and other orthographical signs in blue and black. The golden medallions are verse ma... more
Talismanic Scroll
Centuries before block printing was introduced in Europe, the technique was used in the Islamic world to produce miniature texts consisting of prayers, incantations, and Qur'anic verses that were kept in amulet... more
Talismanic Scroll
Talismanic scroll in block-print was rolled and stored in an amulet box Made in Egypt
Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
Made in probably Egypt
Samyutagama Sutra, chapter 25
Sutra writing developed its own distinctive tradition of regular script in which individual characters retained the squat, fleshy proportions and compact strokes of early clerical script. In this scroll, compri... more
Scroll of Mudras
This handscroll depicts hand gestures known as mudras in Sanskrit, the Indian language in which many early Esoteric Buddhist texts were written. In Japan the gestures are called insō, the Japanese term for a Ch... more
Talismanic Scroll
Centuries before block-printing was introduced in Europe, the technique was used in the Islamic world to produce miniature texts consisting of prayers, incantations, and Qur’anic verses. These were kept in amul... more
Fragment from a Talismanic Scroll
Only the upper left corner of this page has survived. The text, which includes a passage reading "the heart of the one who wears it," together with the evidence of folds on the paper point to its original use a... more
Manuscript
Found Egypt
Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
Block-printed Talismanic Circular Leaf
Attributed to Egypt
Talismanic Scroll
Attributed to Egypt
Scroll of Deities of the Diamond World Mandala
This iconographic handscroll features representations of the thirty-seven principal Buddhist deities from the Diamond World Mandala, along with auxiliary deities, amounting to a total of forty-nine deities. Acc... more
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
These two pages almost certainly come from a dispersed Qur'an dated A.H. 485/A.D. 1092 in "new style" script. This script was used mainly in the eastern Islamic lands after paper replaced parchment as writing m... more
Folio from a Quran Manuscript
This page almost certainly comes from a dispersed Qur'an dated A.H. 485/A.D. 1092 in "new style" script. This script was used mainly in the eastern Islamic lands after paper replaced parchment as writing materi... more
Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru
Poet, calligrapher, and Chan (Zen) Buddhist adept, Huang Tingjian believed that calligraphy should be spontaneous and self-expressive—“a picture of the mind.” Containing nearly twelve hundred characters, this h... more