Read on Twitter
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
A work-adjacent distraction these past months has been re-reading Karl Schaefer's essential survey of Arabic block prints in European and American collections and following a spiral of curiosity out from there...
A work-adjacent distraction these past months has been re-reading Karl Schaefer's essential survey of Arabic block prints in European and American collections and following a spiral of curiosity out from there...
[Published in 2006 by @Brill_ME_Africa, Schaefer's book remains the only comprehensive survey of these fascinating objects. Read Schaefer! Sadly, the hoped-for equivalent survey of collections in the Middle East is TBD.]
https://brill.com/view/title/11382
![[Published in 2006 by @Brill_ME_Africa, Schaefer's book remains the only comprehensive survey of these fascinating objects. Read Schaefer! Sadly, the hoped-for equivalent survey of collections in the Middle East is TBD.] https://brill.com/view/title/11382](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjabOGWsAEFnPI.jpg "[Published in 2006 by @Brill_ME_Africa, Schaefer's book remains the only comprehensive survey of these fascinating objects. Read Schaefer! Sadly, the hoped-for equivalent survey of collections in the Middle East is TBD.] https://brill.com/view/title/11382")
https://brill.com/view/title/11382
... the ensuing years have added a few more examples to those cited by Schaefer, but the corpus of documented Arabic block prints still comprises fewer than one hundred objects, almost all unique survivals.
This thread will illustrate Schaefer's group of block prints, arranged by institution, since I think trying to arrange them into stylistic groups imposes a degree of certainty I'm certainly not comfortable suggesting.
I'll add the handful of block prints subsequently identified, chuck in some market examples (I'm a bookseller, we love prices), and raise some lingering questions... I may include some SPECULATION, but will mark it clearly.
Questions and speculation will include some provenance thoughts (and problems), which feel timely but depressing this week. Block prints still feel like a bibliographical Wild West / here be Dragons. I have curiosity but little else to offer. Enjoy?
This is going to be a long, long thread. I'd be v grateful if comments waited until I finished posting the whole shebang - will say when I have by writing END
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
from Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T Sfrom Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjgGSvWoAAMxpa.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T Sfrom Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]")
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T Sfrom Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjgGTpXsAEpp7p.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T Sfrom Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]")
from Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
[Illustrations all have detailed references at bottom.]
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T
@Gutenbergmuseum
[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T @Gutenbergmuseum[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjmQi1XkAAejag.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T @Gutenbergmuseum[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]")
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T @Gutenbergmuseum[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjmQdaXQAE8qBM.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T @Gutenbergmuseum[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]")
@Gutenbergmuseum
[this example has been ascribed to the 15th century, on the basis of the paper, which is marked and possibly Italian. worth noting that this significantly expanded the potential dates for these block prints.]
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 1/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 1/6
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 2/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 2/6
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 3/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 3/6
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 4/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 4/6
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 5/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 5/6
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 6/6
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 6/6
[Yes, many of these are fragments, and a staggering number of them are held by the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.]
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
@LACMA
[square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S @LACMA [square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjs3vHXYAE3fc5.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S @LACMA [square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]")
![A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S @LACMA [square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjs3vMXsAAwFRn.jpg "A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S @LACMA [square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]")
@LACMA
[square format example ascribed to the western Islamic world on the basis of the red text at top (apparently printed?) - I would have assumed MS addition, myself.]
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T
@PrincetonRBSC "Scheide Tarsh"
Purchased at @Sothebys in 1993 by William Scheide via an agent, against an estimate of £1,800-2,000. See below for 1993 description:
http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/books/Sothebys-19931022/Sothebys-19931022-001-030.pdf
@PrincetonRBSC "Scheide Tarsh"
Purchased at @Sothebys in 1993 by William Scheide via an agent, against an estimate of £1,800-2,000. See below for 1993 description:
http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/books/Sothebys-19931022/Sothebys-19931022-001-030.pdf
These are all the examples documented by Schaefer. Additional examples follow...
Schaefer noted a fascinating group of 13th c printed, illustrated hajj certificates, originally from the Ummayad Mosque, but now held at TIEM in Istanbul, first published in the '60s. They fell outside his survey's scope.
Read Rachel Milstein's article on these certificates, which include the only examples of surviving multiples, and provide unusually firm dating. They also hint at how much remains unpublished and unidentified... https://www.academia.edu/23855442/A_Collection_of_Thirteenth-Century_Illustrated_Hajj_Certificates
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T S
@bsb_muenchen acquired two block prints in 2015.
https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV042479430
https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV042479419
@bsb_muenchen acquired two block prints in 2015.
https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV042479430
https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV042479419
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T
The David Collection acquired a multi-coloured example in 2003, which relates to at least one other known example.
https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/materials/calligraphy/art/85-2003
The David Collection acquired a multi-coloured example in 2003, which relates to at least one other known example.
https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/materials/calligraphy/art/85-2003
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T
See @incunabula below for another multi-coloured example. https://twitter.com/incunabula/status/1249833732510547976
See @incunabula below for another multi-coloured example. https://twitter.com/incunabula/status/1249833732510547976
A R A B I C B L O C K P R I N T
@AgaKhanMuseum holds an unusual example with case.
https://agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/printed-amulet-with-box-akm508
@AgaKhanMuseum holds an unusual example with case.
https://agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/printed-amulet-with-box-akm508
... which is the same block print sold at @Sothebys in 2002 for £29,875.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.8.html/2002/arts-of-the-islamic-world-l02220
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.8.html/2002/arts-of-the-islamic-world-l02220
[That's it for examples. I'm going to cook dinner now, but will pick up with some tangents, questions, and provenance thoughts later...]
Just to complicate things: @AshmoleanMuseum hold a group of block-printed calligraphic textiles found in Egypt. Possibly produced in India or the Middle East, dating debatable, style varied...
... which points to the fact that all of the block prints whose findspots are at least partially known are effectively archaeological finds in dumps of paper and ephemera, whether in Damascus or Fustat, or...
They're happenstance, astonishing survivals, medieval PRINTED PAPER ephemera.
These block prints are bibliographically awkward. Specialists know they exist, but trying to make any broad argument from one or two examples is, well, hopeless? And I hope looking through this thread...
... makes it very clear that while they are probably amuletic in some form, and use text from the Qur'an, we have little clear evidence for how they were used.
Pinned to walls, secreted, consumed, burned, worn?
Pinned to walls, secreted, consumed, burned, worn?
The textual references are ambiguous. The corpus is TINY. But for all that, these block prints are the earliest instance of the Qur'an printed on paper, preceding the enigmatic 16th c typographic Venice Qur'an.
A comprehensive survey of papers and inks might supplement Schaefer effectively, and permit useful observations based on material evidence, for instance. The field is wide open.
Publishing new individual examples is great, but without Schaefer-equivalent survey for ME collections, it's hard to see how much the past ~ 150 years of scholarship can be dramatically shifted.
I should note that @dan_a_lowe tells me @britishlibrary have turned up two block prints (pics please?) which may correspond to the two Schaefer could not locate, speaking of happy new (re)-discoveries.
Re materials - block prints on vellum have been published, but by the time of Schaefer's survey, none were located.
As a bookseller, I'd love to have a catalogue full of Arabic block prints. But, as with papyri, antiquities, &c - provenance seems like an absolute nightmare...
... I think the easiest example is a block print Schaefer cited in the private Schöyen collection. It is no longer recorded on the collection website, unusually, as the catalogue often includes material which has since been sold...
... but the Wayback Machine throws up this, sadly unillustrated, catalogue entry. The earliest provenance note is for circa 2000 at an "antiquity market", Peshawar, Pakistan. Subsequently, no date, with a London dealer.
Red flag circus, basically. The only justification for the attribution to the eastern Islamic world (Afghanistan or Iran, but not Pakistan?) is its purchase in Peshawar. So, yes. Probably won't get to issue a block print catalogue any time soon.
Less alarmingly, but more mysteriously, the material used for block print matrices remains an open question. Metal or wood are both options. As the examples above show, relief and intaglio were used...
Schaefer subsequently cited this brass printing block at Glasgow Museums as possibly earlier than catalogued... and it's some idea of what else may be out there.
http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=132481;type=101#
http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=132481;type=101#
Dreweatt's have a "tarsh" coming up for sale next month. But I think I'll hold out hope...
https://bid.dreweatts.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/998/lot/53945
https://bid.dreweatts.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/998/lot/53945
... for its 19th c descendants, like this wonderful Bombay lithographed amulet and case @BlackburnMuseum.
END!
END!
@Jake___Benson, as promised! @DevinFitzger, @incunabula I haven't even touched on the even bigger question of how these may relate to printing in central and east Asia, but I suspect you both are rather better placed to have views?
