When a text layout isn't straightforward

I've been pushing myself lately, not because I was told to but because I felt it was time. So with this AoA for a Middle Eastern persona I decided to get into the two sized texts that the Ottomans loved so much.

And I found an excellent piece for it. This is a page from the Qur'an, written in both Arabic and Persian. It is a warning page, the text underneath being the Persian and the source of the warning, saying ˓Alī Ibn Abī ṭālib said, Woe unto you, O Qatāda, if you interpret the Qur˒an by yourself.
The piece can be found here, and the original leaf is housed at the Morgan Library. Other leaves reside elsewhere - the book is not whole.


I took this piece and decided that it would be excellent to highlight the reasons for the AoA, the Royals, the Recipient, and the event, and leave all the other words to be the subscript. The layout for this took much longer than other pieces I've done, including the hourglass shaped text for the Kells AoA I did last year.

What I loved most was how the text ran along the outside, in the border, and continued into the center. I omitted the medallion in the center because I had more text to place than they did. I saved the medallion on the left side for the Arms, and left room at the bottom between the border and the bottom row of text for signatures. I also left room between the rows for the blazon once his Arms are passed.

This was another assignment where I received little information about the recipient. Even reaching out revealed little more than what I already knew. Middle Eastern is a wide range, and from a scribal standpoint does not narrow it down. So, I did what I could with what I had and moved forward on creating the scroll.

I roughly sketched the vines a few times before closer inspection revealed that they're circles. All the vines are, at their base, circles around the red text. That made things easier, and I think I achieved a much better recreation. The piece is done on pergemenata, and when I ordered it I ordered white instead of natural so visually my piece is different from the original. Because of this, I changed the color of the outside tracks on the knot work. In the original, those are a beige very close to the parchment color, but slightly darker which could be either a faded gold or a raw sienna/ochre color. I tested both on a scrap piece and they did not look cohesive with the piece. I chose instead to do the those tracks in rich gold gouache like the vine work. I am very happy with the final piece, and I feel it has the cohesion of the original. The calligraphy was done with Winsor Newton Red ink, Higgins Eternal black ink and Mitchell nibs. All words by me.

Visually I am happy with the scroll. If I were to do this again, I would likely move to a larger page size to accommodate so much text. However, staying with this page size is more in line with the original, and I'm happy with that. On a practical note, it's also easier to find an affordable frame with an 8x10 mat opening than it is larger sizes.

Tsar Ivan, presenting it in Court at Mudthaw, photo courtesy of Dayna Tarabar