Traces of the Calligrapher brings together exceptional works of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries from Iran, India, and Turkey. Drawn from a private collection in Houston, the exhibition comprises pens, pen boxes, chests, tables, paper scissors, knives, burnishers, and book bindings of superb manufacture and design. These objects are presented with contemporary examples of calligraphy that were executed as practice exercises, occasional works, wall hangings, and manuscripts. The collection is unrivaled in the world, and only the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul houses objects of equal renown. The exhibition also features key works from the collection of the Department of Islamic and Later Indian Art at the Harvard University Art Museums.

Traces of the Calligrapher serves to reconstruct the intimate world of the calligrapher, bringing together the "tools of the trade"—works of art in their own right—and the exquisite manifestations that result from the utilization of these functional objects. The exhibition offers new insights into the environment in which the calligrapher worked during the early modern period of Islamic culture.

Islamic Art and Culture Initiative

This year, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will establish the Islamic Art and Culture Initiative, wherein the MFAH will commit its exhibition and educational resources to the display and study of Islamic art. The MFAH recognizes that, as the Islamic world becomes increasingly important in the 21st century, the museum has the great responsibility to foster the public´s awareness and understanding of the rich Islamic arts and cultures.

The development of the Islamic Art and Culture Initiative will be fourfold: organizing innovative Islamic Art exhibitions; building a stellar permanent collection of Islamic art; hosting stimulating educational programs to help interpret Islamic art, such as lectures, films, workshops, and symposiums; and opening a gallery space in the MFAH devoted solely to the presentation of art from the Islamic world.

Working with the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University, the MFAH presents this exhibition, Traces of the Calligrapher and the complementary exhibition Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur´an. Traces of the Calligrapher, for the first time, presents the elegant and masterful works of Islamic calligraphy alongside the tools used to create them. Writing the Word of God is devoted to a selection of folios from copies of the Qur´an, the preeminent context for the practice of calligraphy in the historical Islamic lands.

Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God are organized by Arthur M. Sackler Museum Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Mary McWilliams, and Professor David J. Roxburgh, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University. This important project was made possible by the strong initiative and generous support of Houstonian Vahid Kooros.

Traces of the Calligrapher will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue published by the MFAH and distributed by Yale University Press. The exhibitions and the catalogue resulting from them will undoubtedly contribute new material and insights for innovative approaches in the study of Islamic calligraphy and the rich field of Islamic art history.