Three siyah mashq calligraphy exercises in nasta'liq shekasteh, Iran, 19th century Calligraphies on paper in Persian, several multidirectional lines, forwards and backwards, in nasta'liq shekasteh in black ink, in cloud reserves on a gold background for two. Mounted as album pages on card stock with several gilded and polychrome borders. The first in a large oblique script with words in reverse; the second of ten horizontal lines, alternately right-side-up and upside-down, the last in smaller characters certainly giving the calligrapher's name; the third, dated 1810, of 10 horizontal lines alternately right-side-up and upside-down, the date 1225 H/1810 inscribed in figures in the lower part. Calligraphy size: 7 x 5.8 cm, 18.9 x 13.4 cm, 18.2 x 12.5 cm; overall size: 25.7 x 17.1 cm, 25 x 17.1 cm, 20.7 x 14.4 cm Slight wear, a few stains, folds, small tear on third page. Shekasteh nasta'liq, literally the broken form of nasta'liq, is a variant of nasta'liq that appeared in the 17th century, consisting of the narrowing of certain letters and the joining of certain words that are normally detached. The lines are often multidirectional, almost dancing on the sheet of paper. Three Calligraphic Exercises Siyah Mashq, Iran, 19th Century Collection of M. A. Z. - 1960 to 1980 (by descent) - lots 238 to 252