| Taliq | |
|---|---|
 Page of calligraphy intaliq script signed byEkhtiyar Monshi Gonabadi. Iran, 1541-42 (948 A.H.).Freer Gallery of Art | |
| Script type | |
| Languages | Persian |
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Thetaʿlīq (Persian:تعلیق,lit. 'hanging')script is acalligraphic hand inIslamic calligraphy typically used for official documents written inPersian. Literally meaninghanging orsuspended script it emerged in the mid‑13th century CE and was widely used, especially in chanceries ofIranian states, although from the early 16th century onward it lost ground to anotherhanging script, the increasingly popularnastaliq.[1][2]
Taliq had a long gestation. The Persian style of writingnaskh underwent gradual changes from the 11th century onward, and those changes, together with some borrowings fromtawqi andriqa', resulted in the emergence oftaliq script in the mid‑13th century CE.[1][3]Taliq shares many peculiarities with these three scripts, "but is more stylized. It revels in curvilinear elements, extraneous loops, extreme contrasts between compression and expansion, and connected letters, all traits that make it difficult for the novice to decipher".[3]
Intaliq words and detached letters could be joined, which allowed for speedy writing and made it suitable for official correspondence.[1] By the late thirteenth centurytaliq had achieved a definitive style, sometimes calledtaliq-i qadim (oldtaliq) ortaliq-i asl (originaltaliq), "probably driven in part by the burgeoningIlkhanid bureaucracy’s need to standardize written Persian".[3] (seefirman of Sadr al-Din Zanjani, vizier of ilkhanGaykhatu). In order to write even faster, chancery clerks (munshi) streamlined the script by increasing the number of unorthodox ligatures and dropping the pointing on many letters. Some letters were reduced in size, while others were written with thinner strokes or in new shapes. This new style known asshikasta taliq (broken, i.e., truncated and simplifiedtaliq) (sometimes also calledkhatt-i tarassol - "correspondence script") was used systematically from the end of the 14th century.[1][4]
According toSafavid authors (likeDust Muhammad orQadi Ahmad)shikasta taliq have been invented, or at least defined, by Taj al-Din Salmani, a scribe working in the court ofTimur (r. 1370-1405), and perfected by ʿAbd-al-Hayy Astarabadi, chief clerk under Timur's grandsonAbu Sa'id (r. 1451-1469). ʿAbd-al-Hayy developed two varieties oftaliq – a more flowing style associated with theTimurids in Khurasan and a more linear and solid style associated withAq Qoyunlu in Iraq and Azerbaijan.[1][5] The biographers mention Darvish 'Abdallah Munshi as the most famous calligrapher in the Khurasan style[6] (see letter by his hand). The most importanttaliq calligrapher of Safavid period wasEkhtiyar Monshi Gonabadi (d. 1582), after whom "no calligraphers dedicated themselves with the same seriousness to Ta‘liq calligraphy because the same century saw the flowering of the Nasta‘liq script".[7]
Gholam-Hosayn Yusofi stressed thatshikasta taliq "is a script devised for rapid writing and therefore one in which intertwining is allowed, that is, unjoinable letters as well as two or more words are joined together. The strokes, except in certain contexts, are predominantly round, and the pen is moved smoothly. The sizes of letters and words are not uniform, and if there is any consistency in the composition, it is very different from the neat symmetry to be seen in other scripts".[1]
In the 15th centurytaliq was also used in theOttoman Empire. Following the expansion of imperial chancery afterconquest of Constantinople in 1453 Ottoman scribes began to elaboratetaliq script, developing the distinctive Ottoman style known asdivani.[8]Taliq is also generally used as the name for thenastaliq script in the Turkish language[9] and often in the Arabic language.[10] Traditionallytaliq was considered to be the basis of thenastaliq, but more recent research derive this script from thenaskh alone.[11]
_issued_by_the_shrine_of_Imam_Riza_at_Mashhad_on_5_July_1533.jpg)
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