Search

Epigraphy (from the Greek epigráphein ‘to write on’) is the science or study of inscriptions. It is distinguished from calligraphy (lit. ‘beautiful writing’ Script and art) by the nature of the physical support on which the writing is inscribed. Epigraphy is executed on durable materials. In the Islamic lands these include buildings made of stone or brick, where the epigraphy is often carved in relief form, and portable objects made of wood, metal, ceramics, or glass and the like. Calligraphy, in co…

Kufic (Arabic kūfī) is an angular style of script used in early Islamic times for monumental inscriptions and Qurʾān manuscripts. Derived from Kūfa, the city in southern Iraq renowned for its erudition in early Islamic times, the term ‘Kufic’ was introduced to Western scholarship in the late 18th century by Jakob George Christian Adler (1756–1834), a Lutheran cleric from Schleswig who was charged with cataloguing the Qurʾānic material in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. The collection comprised a mere five fragme…