Given the status of the Qur‘an as the eternal and uncreated word of Allah, the art of the pen became the focus of an extra­ordinary energy in the Muslim world. Ink and Gold charts the development of Islamic calligraphy – the noblest, most stylized and original of the Islamic arts – over a period of some 1200 years, from its beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula. 
 
Text and illustrations cover all the major centres of Islamic calligraphy, from North Africa to Central Asia, highlighting the achievements of Islamic calligraphers in the ages of the ‘Abbasid (749–1258), Seljuk (1055–1243), Ilkhanid (1256–1357), Safavid (1502–1736) and Mughal Empires (1526–1857). Though pride of place is given to the Qur‘an, the catalogue also includes examples of royal decrees, calligraphic albums and Persian poetry, showing the huge diversity of calligraphic traditions in the Islamic world.