Calligraphic page from an album, Walters Art Museum W.672, fol.3a

An album (muraqqaʿ) of calligraphy in the form of an accordion book put together by an anonymous collector, probably in the 12th century AH/ 18th CE. It consists of leaves bearing fragmentary passages from the Qur’an (Sūrat al-baqarah, 2:65-68 and Sūrat al-nisāʾ, 4:103-106), some sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and two sheets of pen exercises (ḳaralama). Folio 5a bears the name of the celebrated Ottoman calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah (Ḥamd Allāh al-Amāsī, d. 926 AH /1520 CE).