Ruqʿa lit. ‘piece of paper’ is a script which originated in the Ottoman chancery. It is known in that context as riqʿa (also rikʿa, rika), not to be confused with riqāʿ (the plural of ruqʿa), one of the ‘proportioned’ scripts (t̲ulut̲). This script is said to have developed from dīwānī (divani), the chancery script of the Ottoman Empire and represents an adaptation of the Persian taʿlīq (nastaʿlīq), most probably in the second half of the 12th/18th century.

It is said to have developed from dīwānī by simplifying its letter forms to such a point that there is little visible rese…