Blessings Amplified: Knotted Script/Pseudo-Script on Mosuli Metalwork
keywords: metalwork; Mosul; interlacing text; knotting; pseudo-script; apotropaia
Arabic script in a variety of styles is ubiquitous on silver-inlaid brass objects from Mosul in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This research focuses on the knotted Kufic-style script on these objects: elongated vertical segments of the letters paired with interlacing designs that run across the text. In this script style, the letterforms are visually less significant, and the majority of the emphasis is placed on the interlacing features of the script. This labyrinthic pattern creates a deliberate visual obstacle to the reading of the script.
Although the knotted inscriptions form a prominent feature of metal objects from Mosul, there is a paucity of research examining the content of such inscriptions and their sociocultural significance. The inscriptions have often been dismissed by art historians as they are generally devoid of any historical information. They almost always contain phrases of benediction or supplication, such as baraka (divine blessings), sa‘ada (happiness), al-‘izz wa al-‘iqbal (honor and prosperity), and yumn (good luck or fortune). In addition, the knotted script is challenging to decipher even for the modern scholar, and thus scholarship on these pious texts have often been overlooked and merely assumed to be benedictory in nature. A closer examination of the inscriptions reveals that some of these styles may in fact carry pseudo-script, playfully designed to mimic script.
For the medieval viewer, a similar challenge arises with respect to reading the interlacing Kufic-style script. A further impediment to this reading is the placement of the script. Often, this style wraps around the object, as in the large brass candlesticks, or is placed in discreet spaces, such as inside a pen box. As such, the reading of the script was rarely achievable through a single glance and required an embodied response from the user, either in the form of physical interaction with the object or movement around the object. The intricately crafted inscriptions invite a viewing of the script rather than a verbal reading. This research argues that the knotting of script in this way resonated with the knotted designs pervasive in materials associated with magic and were therefore understood as apotropaia by the medieval viewer. The knotted designs amplified the benedictory inscriptions and immediately signaled a magical affiliation, irrespective of the readability of the text.
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Zahra Kazani
Barakat Postdoctoral Fellow (2023–4), University of Oxford
https://oxford.academia.edu/ZahraKazani
Employment
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 2022–3
Instructor, University of Victoria, 2020–1
Curatorial Assistant, British Museum, 2013–4
Curatorial Assistant, Aga Khan Museum, 2011–3
Education
PhD, Art History and Visual Studies, University of Victoria (Canada), 2022
MA, Distinction, History of Art and Architecture of Islamic Middle East, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2014
MA, Muslim Cultures, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, The Aga Khan University (Intl) UK, 2009
BA, High Honors, Islamic Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, 2005
This research focuses on the knotted Kufic-style script on silver-inlaid brass objects from Mosul in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In this script style, the interlacing features of the script are emphasized which creates a deliberate visual obstacle to the reading of the text. My research argues that the knotting of script in this way resonated with the knotted designs pervasive in materials associated with magic and were therefore understood as apotropaia by the medieval viewer. The knotted designs amplified the benedictory content of the inscriptions and immediately signaled a magical affiliation, irrespective of the legibility of the text.