Mehmed Şefik ( -1880)

Gilded mirror inscription

h. 1286 [1869]

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Mehmed Şefik wrote the templates for this mirror inscription (müsenna). This type of inscription consists of a word or group of words written twice as a symmetrical mirror image interlocking down the centre. Calligraphers begin by writing the word in an istif design (one with the letters written one above the other), and then drew its mirror image. These balanced compositions are difficult to read but striking to look at. Celi sülüs is the script most often used for compositions of this kind.1 In this example, Mehmed Şefik has written the Arabic religious formula, La ilâhe illallâhu huve rabbî ve rabbu’l-âlemîn (There is no god but God, who is my lord and lord of the worlds). The calligrapher has signed his name as ‘Mehmed Şefik’ at the bottom, and the date AH 1286 in two parts in the corners below the inscription. The outer border is decorated in the style known as Turkish rococo.

Detail

Title:

Gilded mirror inscription

Artist:

Mehmed Şefik ( -1880)

Date:

h. 1286 [1869]

Dimensions:

62 x 51,5 cm

Medium:

Thick paper, paint, gold ink

Location:

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Credit:

Exhibition History

Gilded mirror inscription

Detail

Title:

Artist:

Date:

Dimensions:

Medium:

Location:

Credit:

Categories