The next session of the Exploring Egypt Seminar is scheduled for February 18th at the PCMA UW Research Centre in Cairo. The seminars are co-organized by Ifao, DAIK, CAI, NVIC and the PCMA UW Research Centre in Cairo. The series explores various aspects of producing historical knowledge on Egypt, focusing on how Egypt’s history has been written, narrated, and understood over time.
The 10th session of the series features Noha Abou-Khatwa (American University in Cairo) with a talk “Calligraphers and Patrons in Mamluk Cairo: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh and the Arts of the Book”.
Abstract: “The age of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt and Syria is known for the flowering of the arts of building and the arts of the book. Both regimes, the Bahri Mamluk and the Circassian Mamluk, left us treasures of calligraphy and epigraphy seen in the streets of Cairo and in the various manuscript collections around the world. Patronage of luxurious manuscripts was an important part of the artistic patronage of Mamluk rulers, and thus often entrusted to famous calligraphers.
One of the most famous calligraphers of the period was the master ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh (770/1368-845/1441). This calligrapher, however, did not only practice his art but also composed a treatise on calligraphy and laid the foundation of a calligraphic school. It is thus the aim of this paper to present this master and his works in a way to enable the reconstruction of his tradition of learning. Such a study also aims to examine his artistic agency by analyzing his skill, students and relation with Mamluk patrons who made it possible for him to excel.
Five main aspects of his life and practice will be tackled:
- His biography, as given to us by a few of the 15th century Mamluk sources. This will focus on the entry by the historian al-Sakhāwī in his al-Ḍaw’ al-lāmiʿ fī ahl al-qarn al-tāsiʿ, since al-Sakhāwī was also one of Ibn al-Ṣāyigh’s students
- His chain of transmission.
- His treatise on calligraphy which carries two titles: Tuḥfat ʾūlī al-albāb fī ṣināʿat al-khaṭṭ wa al-kitāb and Risāla fī al-khaṭṭ wa barī al-qalam.
- This will be followed by the examination of the extent to which his theoretical tradition reflects in his scripts as seen in the surviving manuscripts he signed.
- The exploration of his impact will be completed by a review of his students who all penned or illuminated manuscripts in the 15th
- Lastly, the socio-intellectual network of this calligrapher will be investigated to help us better understand the artistic and intellectual life of Mamluk Egypt in the final years of the 14th century and the first half of 15th century”
This seminar will take place on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 at 6:00 pm (Cairo time), at the PCMA Research Centre in Cairo. The lecture is open to the public in the limit of available places.