Ruba'is by Hafiz

Quatrains by the Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9), written in the black Nasta'liq script during the 16th- or 17th-centuries, in Iran. (Bad deeds) have a very strange adjective / This bizarre Satan that eats people / Most people are cannibals / You are not safe when they greet you Another quatrain by the Persian poet Hafiz (d. 791/1388-9) is inscribed in vertical panels, the last two verses of which appear on a background painted with gold leaves. This quatrain describes respect owed to one's superiors: Dil sara parda-yi muhabbat-i tu-st / Dida ayina dar-i tal'at-i tu-st / Man ka sar dar nayavaram bi-du kawm / Gardanam zir-i bar-i minnat-i tu-st Dimensions of Written Surface: 15 (w) x 25 (h) cm My heart is in your house of love / (My) eye is the mirror that reflects your brilliance / I, who do not prostrate to the two worlds, / My neck is under the weight of your favor The fragment is neither dated nor signed. However, it appears to have been produced in 16th- or 17th-century Iran and placed later into an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies. The verses are executed in black nasta'liq script in independent registers on a background decorated with illuminated triangular and rectangular panels. The entirety of the text panel is pasted to a larger sheet of beige paper decorated with light blue vegetal motifs. This calligraphic fragment includes three iambic pentameter quatrains, or ruba'is, arranged in corresponding vertical and horizontal panels. The verses written diagonally in the upper right corner describe humans' duplicity: Yak sifat-i 'ajab amad in ammara-ra / Bu al-'ajab ifrit-i mardum khwara-ra / Adami khwarand aghlab marduman / Az salam 'alaykashan kam ju aman Script: nasta'liq 1-88-154.35