Exploring Egypt Seminar: Histories and Historiographies
Calligraphers and Patrons in Mamluk Cairo, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh and the Arts of the Book
Noha Abou-Khatwa
Il Seminario Exploring Egypt: Histories and Historiographies è un’iniziativa congiunta dell’IFAO (Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale) e del DAIK (Deutsches Archäelogisches Institut Kairo), a cui quest’anno si sono aggiunti il CAI – IIC (Centro Archeologico Italiano – Istituto Italiano di Cultura), il PCMA (Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology) e il NVIC (Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Cairo).
La 10˚ sessione del seminario sarà al Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology Cairo (PCMA) dal titolo Calligrafia e padroni del Cairo mammelucco: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh e la sua arte. La conferenza è aperta al pubblico nei limiti dei posti disponibili.
Abstract:
L’epoca mamelucca in Egitto e Siria vide un sviluppo artistico, in particolare nella calligrafia e nella produzione di manoscritti. Questo periodo portò all’ascesa di ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh, un famoso calligrafo che non solo eccelse nella sua arte, ma lasciò anche in eredità scuola di calligrafia. In questa conferenza si approfondirà la sua biografia, le sue teorie, la sua produzione artistica e la sua influenza sui suoi studenti, con l’obiettivo di ricostruire la sua formazione e comprendere il suo ruolo nel più ampio panorama socio-intellettuale dell’Egitto mamelucco durante il XIV e XV secolo.
Noha Abou-Khatwa Professore Assistente di Arte Islamica e Architettura, Dipartimento di Civiltà Araba e Islamica AUC. La sua ricerca si concentra sui manoscritti culturali, l’architettura e la vita intellettuale dei Musulmani durante il Medioevo soprattutto sull’epoca Mammelucca. PhD nel 2017 dall’Università di Toronto sull’arte Islamica e i materiali d’arte. Ha lavorato al Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, capo progetto “The Dar al-Kutub Manuscript Conservation Project”. Ha fondato l’Islamic Art Network, uno dei primi progetti digitali che serve all’assistenza ai ricercatori nel campo dell’arte e architettura Islamica. Ha diverse pubblicazioni sull’epigrafia, la calligrafia, i manoscritti del Corano, sull’architettura e sulla vita intellettuale dell’Islam nel periodo medievale.
Exploring Egypt Seminar: Histories and Historiographies
Questa serie di seminari è realizzata in collaborazione tra il Centro Archeologico Italiano dell’Istituto Italiano di Cultura del Cairo (CAI-IIC), l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale (ifao), l’Istituto Archeologico Germanico del Cairo (DAIK), il Centro Polacco di Archeologia Mediterranea (PCMA), l’Istituto Nederlandese-Fiammingo del Cairo (NVIK). Il programma di seminari mira a discutere diversi aspetti legati alla produzione di conoscenza storica sull’Egitto. I relatori sono invitati a riflettere sui diversi modi di scrivere, narrare e pensare la storia dell’Egitto in diversi periodi, nonché sugli attori, i contesti e le relazioni di potere coinvolti nella produzione di narrazioni storiche. Adottando una prospettiva interdisciplinare, la serie di seminari cerca di mettere in dialogo campi che tradizionalmente sono stati esaminati separatamente, come la storia dell’Egittologia, lo studio della storiografia egiziana moderna e la storia del patrimonio e della conservazione. Inoltre, mentre la serie di seminari cerca di fare luce critica sulla formazione di specifici campi e tradizioni disciplinari, si muove anche oltre un esclusivo focus sulla scrittura storica professionale, per esplorare le varie istituzioni, generi e canali attraverso i quali le narrazioni storiche sono state prodotte e diffuse. Tra i temi che saranno discussi, ad esempio, ci sono le diverse “storie” dell’Egittologia, dell’archeologia o degli studi arabi e islamici, le rappresentazioni accademiche e “popolari” della storia e la conservazione del patrimonio come luogo di produzione di narrazioni storiche. Il seminario Exploring Egypt: Histories and Historiographies è organizzato da Fatma Keshk, assegnista di ricerca presso DAIK & Ifao, e Malak Labib, membro scientifico dell’Ifao.
Conferenza in lingua Inglese
**Conferenza disponibile in presenza
Martedὶ 18 Febbraio 2025 – 18:00 (Cairo Local Time) – PCMA – Heliopolis – Cairo
SEMINAR
Exploring Egypt Seminar: Histories and Historiographies
Calligraphers and Patrons in Mamluk Cairo
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh and the Arts of the Book
Noha Abou-Khatwa
Partners: l’Ifao, DAIK, NVIC, CAI, PCMA
The 10th session of the seminar series ‘Exploring Egypt: Histories and Historiographies’, a joint initiative of the Ifao, DAIK, CAI, PCMA & NVIC, will be hosted at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology Cairo (PCMA). This session features Noha Abou-Khatwa, and it is entitled “Calligraphers and Patrons in Mamluk Cairo: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh and the Arts of the Book”. The lecture is open to the public in the limit of available places.
Abstract: The age of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt and Syria is known for the flowering of the arts of building and the arts of the book. Both regimes, the Bahri Mamluk and the Circassian Mamluk, left us treasures of calligraphy and epigraphy seen in the streets of Cairo and in the various manuscript collections around the world. Patronage of luxurious manuscripts was an important part of the artistic patronage of Mamluk rulers, and thus often entrusted to famous calligraphers. One of the most calligraphers of the period was the master ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ṣāyigh (770/1368 – 845/1441). This calligrapher, however, did not only practice his art but also composed a treatise on calligraphy and laid the foundation of a calligraphic school. It is thus the aim of this paper to present this master and his works in a way to enable the reconstruction of his tradition of learning. Such a study also aims to examine his artistic agency by analyzing his skill, students and relation with Mamluk patrons who made it possible for him to excel.
Five main aspects of his life and practice will be tackled:
- His biography, as given to us by a few of the 15th century Mamluk sources. This will focus on the entry by the historian al-Sakhāwī in his al-Ḍaw’ al-lāmiʿ fī ahl al-qarn al-tāsiʿ, since al-Sakhāwī was also one of Ibn al-Ṣāyigh’s students
- His chain of transmission.
- His treatise on calligraphy which carries two titles: Tuḥfat ʾūlī al-albāb fī ṣināʿat al-khaṭṭ wa al-kitāb and Risāla fī al-khaṭṭ wa barī al-qalam.
- This will be followed by the examination of the extent to which his theoretical tradition reflects in his scripts as seen in the surviving manuscripts he signed.
- The exploration of his impact will be completed by a review of his students who all penned or illuminated manuscripts in the 15th
- Lastly, the socio-intellectual network of this calligrapher will be investigated to help us better understand the artistic and intellectual life of Mamluk Egypt in the final years of the 14th century and the first half of 15th century
Noha Abou-Khatwa is an assistant professor of Islamic art and architecture at the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, The American University in Cairo. Her main research interests are the manuscript culture, the architecture, and the intellectual life of the Medieval Muslim world with a focus on the Mamluks. She earned her PhD from University of Toronto in Islamic Art and Material Culture in 2017. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, she worked at the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, where she started and directed The Dar al-Kutub Manuscript Conservation Project. She also founded the Islamic Art Network, one of the earliest projects to consider the digital humanities to aid those studying Cairo’s Islamic art and architecture. She publishes on epigraphy, calligraphy, Qur’an manuscripts, architecture and the intellectual life of medieval Islam.
Exploring Egypt Seminar: Histories and Historiographies
A joint collaboration between the Ifao (Institut français d’archéologie orientale) & the DAIK (German Archaeological Institute in Cairo), joined in 2025 by the CAI (Centro Archeologico Italiano), PCMA (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology Cairo) & NVIC (Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo).
This seminar series aims, broadly speaking, to discuss different aspects related to the production of historical knowledge on Egypt. Speakers are invited to reflect on the different ways of writing, narrating and thinking about Egypt’s history at different periods, as well as on the actors, contexts, and power relations involved in the production of historical narratives. By adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the seminar series seeks to bring into conversation fields which have traditionally been examined separately, such as the history of Egyptology, the study of modern Egyptian historiography, and the history of heritage and preservation.
In addition, while the seminar series seeks to shed a critical light on the formation of specific disciplinary fields and traditions, it also moves beyond an exclusive focus on professional history writing, in order to explore the various institutions, genres, and channels, through which historical narratives have been produced and disseminated. Among the themes that will be discussed, for instance, are the different “histories” of Egyptology, archaeology or Arabic and Islamic studies, academic versus “popular” representations of history, and heritage preservation as a site of production of historical narratives.
Exploring Egypt: Histories and Historiographies Seminar is organised by Fatma Keshk, Postdoctoral fellow at DAIK & Ifao and Malak Labib, scientific member of the Ifao.
**The Lecture is available in presence
Lectures in English
Tuesday, 18th of February 2025 – 18:00 PM – Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology Cairo (PCMA)