HALI NEWSLETTER No. 467

[View this email in your browser]( Calligraphy means the art of writing beautifully. Over time, writing has been developed and refined to a point where it has become an art form in its own right. Calligraphy is frequently used in almost every kind of media within the Islamic world – and hence has become a unique testimony to Islamic culture. The most skilled calligraphers have gone on to become famous artists, and several have formed schools within their respective fields. After the rise of Islam in the 7th century and its initial spread, the Arabic script took on a very special significance, becoming a unifying factor–an identity marker–across geography and ethnicity. Since the use of imagery of living beings was not practiced in religious contexts–even in early Islam–beautifully crafted handwriting took on a notable role in Islamic culture. In the exhibition 'Beyond Words: Calligraphy from the World of Islam', 128 individual works are presented, all of which exemplify the importance and role of calligraphy. The audience is introduced to different types of writing and the different usages from official documents to metal work, ceramics, textiles and architecture presented in the most exclusive exhibition design by the renowned architectural studio Mentze Ottenstein. The exhibition is showing at The David Collection in Copenhagen until 26 January 2025. [Find out more.]( The Cleveland Museum of Art is showcasing a selection of altar cloths, clerical vestments and other liturgical textiles as part of this exhibition that is running until 4 August 2024. The great array of exhibits offer insight into how approaches to religious ceremonies evolved throughout the Middle Ages. Image: Virgin and Child with Four Saints (detail), Germany or Switzerland, Upper Rhine, ca. 1500. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1939.162, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. [Find out more.]( ‘Woven Treasures: Ottoman Rugs and Textiles from the Ottoman Palace’ is a specially organised exhibition of 16th-century rugs and textiles from the Topkapı Harem, that is currently showing at the Dolmabahce Palace Art Gallery in Istanbul. Highlights from the exhibition include three Safavid Persian Prayer rugs of the ‘Salting’ type and a Turkish keyhole prayer rug. Welcome back to [#RugFactFriday]( where this month's focus is on Swedish folk weavings. These feature in an article from HALI 202, in which the curator of the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Ulla-Karin Warberg, delves into a specific group of these weavings, flamskväv from SkÃ¥ne. This group of tapestry-weaves show how an urban textile art was imported, adopted, adapted and assimilated by Scanian peasant women into their own rural weaving heritage. Warberg explains that the flamskväv technique traces its roots to the European late medieval and early Renaissance tapestry-making tradition that emerged in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Swedish textile scholar Ernst Fischer showed that references to the textiles are 'first found in the household inventories of the Scandinavian gentry from the 16th century' and that by the end of that century, women had taken over the 'traditionally male profession' of flamskväv weaving. Yet rather than working in workshops, these women 'walked from household to household to weave on the client’s request', which is likely how the technique arrived in rural SkÃ¥ne. These textiles came to be 'regarded as capital and treasured in Swedish peasant society' and by the 18th-century flamskväv weaving was an integral feature of the education of young women. Many girls would make these textiles as part of their dowry from age 15, by which point the technique would have been perfected. The author proceeds to delve into the motifs and colours that typically feature in these textiles. The full article can be accessed with a digital subscription to HALI, which occurs automatically with a normal subscription to the magazine, or which can be bought separately. [Subscribe to HALI.]( [Get a digital subscription to HALI.]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Website]( [LinkedIn]( Copyright © 2023 Hali Publications, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: HALI Publications 6 Sylvester Path London, Hackney E8 1EN United Kingdom Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Hali Publications Ltd · 6 Sylvester Path · London, England E8 1EN · United Kingdom