Calligraphy on Animal Skin (Quran ul karim la iqra fi din)

Name/Title

Calligraphy on Animal Skin (Quran ul karim la iqra fi din)

Entry/Object ID

UNK.060

Collection

Hundal Collection

Made/Created

Artist

Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi

Dimensions

Height

57-3/4 in

Width

65 in

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

Sadequain painted his calligraphy on hides, wood, burlap and on marble slabs, a practice that copied the earliest recorded scripture of the Quran which according to scholars, were written on pieces of hide, bone, stones and various scraps. Nevertheless, Sadequain told reporter Rehana Hakim that using calligraphy was not a religious gesture. It was his inheritance and a service to the art of calligraphy. He added that he was not a religious person but his calligraphy had a certain philosophy, not just words “but sentences which say things.”