A study on diagonal writing in Islamic manuscript layout from 11th -15th centuries

Studying Islamic manuscripts and different art, which enriched them as masterpieces show that different factors and elements are employed to obtain artistic vision and composition. Calligraphers, painters and illuminators works of art are unified in a pleasant and beautiful appearance. The Islamic manuscripts are written in different types of scripts, languages but almost all of them are written in Arabic alphabet, which is written from right to left. A ruler called Mastar is used to adjusting text rows in the pages. However, sometime the text is written diagonal. One of the factors, which caused to develop a new form of writing and as its consequence, a new form of combination in calligraphy and painting in Persian manuscripts, which is writing texts diagonally. Writing diagonally started at first in the scientific manuscripts and it developed in the 9th century while Nastaliq script selected for writing artistic manuscripts. Then in Safavid (1501-1721 A.D) and Qajar (1796-1925 A.D), periods writing texts diagonally became more complicated somewhere it is heard to read the text. Writing text diagonal resulted in a variety in page layout and also it resulted in using all the page space for writing. Writing text diagonally in Islamic manuscripts at first was appeared in scientific manuscripts. In Addition, some necessaries such as lack of enough space for writing, comments, corrections or translations caused to write text diagonally. Writing diagonally at first was appeared inevitable but Muslim artist used it as a decorative element in the page layout. The diagonal texts in first poetry books are special words, which separate prose text from poems. In scientific manuscripts, the words, which were written in the tables, were diagonal due to   the length of the words and limited spaces for writing. Writing diagonally then appeared in the last part of text, in the end of manuscripts or before a painting or illumination in the manuscripts. The oldest manuscripts which have diagonal writing in the text is a work of Saadi belongs to 721 Hijri .Writing texts diagonally then was extended to margins and made a different type of layout. This enable copyist to write different works in a codex, but also it created a diagonal illumination:  Diagonal Tazhib, on top of diagonal text, which became a usual ornament in Shiraz manuscripts .The oldest manuscript which have some complete works in margins, which are written diagonally, is a collected work from 754-756 Hijri. Making texts diagonal are often seen in literary texts and became a main factor in manuscript layout .There is not a study on the origin of diagonal writing and its improvement. The authors here try to find the early manuscripts with diagonal writing, how it became a decorative factor and how it influenced other elements in manuscript decoration. Diagonal writing both as artistic calligraphy or usual handwritings are studied here .Some early manuscripts studied and the oldest diagonal writing were identified from 10th century, which appeared in scientific manuscripts before literary works.