A Safavid carved calligraphic wooden panel, Persia, 17th Century; and a Mamluk Calligraphic Binding fragment, bearing the name of Sultan Al-Malik Al-Mansur Muhammad, Egypt, 1361-63

the calligraphic panel of rectangular form, with nasta'liq inscription set against delicately carved floral motifs; the bookbinding also of rectangular form, with stamp-moulded thuluth inscription set in foliated borders



inscriptions



The wooden panel, in Arabic:



wa an al-jana nahran bi-lin li-zahra wa husayn wa hasan wa li-'ali



'Be it in Paradise, there is a gentle river for Zahra, Hasan, Husayn and for 'Ali'



The leather spine from a manuscript:



'izz li-mawlana al-sultan al-malik al-mansuri wa al-ma'ali Muhammad 'azza nasrahu



'Glory to our Lord the Sultan al-Malik  al- Mansur, the Eminence Muhammad, may his victory be glorified'



(Al-Malik al-Mansur Muhammad ruled between 762/1361 and 764/1363).