Thuluth
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Thuluth (Arabic: ثلث "one-third", Turkish: Sülüs) is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy, which made its first appearance in the fourth century of the Hegira (11th century CE). The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name (meaning "a third" in Arabic) comes. It is a large and elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form.
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[edit] History
The greatest contributions into the evolution of the Thuluth script, were done in the Ottoman Empire in three successive steps that Ottoman Art Historians like to call "Calligraphical Revolutions":
- The first "revolution" was done in the 15th Century by the Master Calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah,[1][2]
- The second one by the Ottoman Calligrapher Hâfız Osman in the 17th Century,[3][4]
- Finally, Mehmed Şevkî Efendi in the late 19th Century, gave the script its distinctive shape of today.[5][6][7]
[edit] Artists
The best known artist to write the Thuluth script at its zenith is said to be Mustafa Rakım Efendi, -a painter- that set the barrier in Ottoman Calligraphy, a barrier (popularly thought as) "to be never reached" until this day.[8]
[edit] Usage
Thuluth was used to write heading of surahs, Qur'anic chapters. Some of the oldest copies of the Qur'an were written in Thuluth. Later copies were written in a combination of Thuluth and either Naskhi or Muhakkak, while after the 15th century Naskhi came to be used exclusively.
[edit] Style
An important aspect of Thuluth script is the use of Harakat ("Hareke" in Turkish) for representing vowel sounds, and other marks for making the script more beautiful. The grammatical Harakat follow the normal rules for any Arabic script, but the 'Art' markings follow their own rules relating to placement and grouping. One common grouping technique would be to separate marks written below letters from those written above. The stylistic rules allow for great creativity as to shape and orientation.
[edit] References
- ^ Hüseyin Kutlu: Hat sanatı kalemi şevk edebilmektir - Kalem Güzeli
- ^ hamdullah1500s
- ^ Kitap Sanatı
- ^ Ali, Wijdan. "From the Literal to the Spiritual: The Development of Prophet Muhammad's Portrayal from 13th Century Ilkhanid Miniatures to 17th Century Ottoman Art". In Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art, eds. M. Kiel, N. Landman, and H. Theunissen. No. 7, 1–24. Utrecht, The Netherlands, August 23-28, 1999, p. 7
- ^ Mehmed Şevki Efendi « Sanat Tarihi
- ^ http://www.bilgininadresi.net/Madde/9375/Mehmed-Şevki-Efendi-(M/1887)
- ^ Türk Ýslam Sanatlarý - Tezyini Sanatlar
- ^ Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy :: RAKIM: ‘Mustafa Rakim” (1757 - 1826) :: April :: 2006
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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