January 19-April 22, 2001
The Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery, Islamic Art Galleries
Sultan Ali of Mashhad (1442-1520) is the acknowledged master of nastaliq, a style of calligraphy favored in the 15th and 16th century for poetical texts written in the Persian language. Although the elegant and fluid script - which was once likened to the patterns of flying geese - originated in Iran, it soon influenced calligraphy in the Muslim courts of India and Turkey.
The work of Sultan Ali - along with that of two of his famous pupils, Mir Ali of Herat and Sultan Muhammad Nur - will be the subject of an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this fall. The exhibition Sultan Ali of Mashhad, Master of Nastaliq will open to the public on January 19, 2001.
The exhibition is made possible by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.
Sultan Ali was born in the Iranian city of Mashhad, but achieved fame while serving Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the Timurid ruler, in his capital city of Herat (now situated in Afghanistan, but at that time part of the eastern Iranian province of Khurasan).
Nearly two dozen works, primarily from the holdings of the Metropolitan, will be shown. The exhibition will include manuscripts and specimen pages, many of which have been enlivened with brilliant illumination. Specimen pages - designed to be viewed as single units, rather than as parts of continuous texts - were meant to enhance albums created for the enjoyment of owner, who was in some instances the ruler himself.
The Web site of the Metropolitan Museum (www.metmuseum.org) will feature the exhibition.
The exhibition is organized by Daniel Walker, the Patti Cadby Birch Curator in the Department of Islamic Art.
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November 13, 2000
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