Album Page with Découpé Calligraphy
Unknown Artist
1630–40
Medium
Gouache on black paper with colored and white decoupage
Dimensions
Frame: 18 1/8 × 13 11/16 × 7/8 in. (46.1 × 34.7 × 2.2 cm) Image: 16 3/4 × 12 5/8 in. (42.5 × 32 cm) Sheet: 12 3/8 × 7 7/8 in. (31.5 × 20 cm)
Classification
Codices
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions, Harris Brisbane Dick, and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Lila Acheson Wallace, and Friends of Islamic Art Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and funds from various donors, 2022
Accession Number
2022.203
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Album Page with Découpé Calligraphy*, created around 1630–40, exemplifies the refined artistry of Islamic manuscript traditions. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Islamic Art, it features intricate calligraphy crafted through découpé—a meticulous technique where letters are precisely cut from colored and white papers, then layered and adhered with gouache onto a striking black paper ground. Measuring about 12⅜ × 7⅞ inches on the sheet, this page likely originated from a *muraqqa'* (album), a cherished format in Persian and Ottoman courts for compiling poe...