Words in plaster
Calligraphy in Lahore can be part of a building’s surface. Masooma Abbas and Syeda Roohi Jamal’s Maryam Zamani Mosque study places writing around the mihrab, above its arch and within the dome’s decoration. Their account describes letters left in relief within a prepared plaster surface. Background and lettering work together: writing occupies a shaped architectural field rather than appearing as an isolated page mounted on a wall.[1]
Reading an altered surface
The study also records competing identifications of a mihrab inscription as naskh, thuluth or tughra. Its authors argue that restoration changed some letter forms, complicating identification. Elsewhere, they describe white calligraphic compositions on blue medallions arranged in diminishing circles beneath the dome. Placement, colour and the survival of individual strokes thus affect how these documented inscriptions can be read.[1]
Pages, prints and display
Lahore Museum’s collection interpretation presents another set of supports. Its Manuscripts Gallery description distinguishes Quranic, Persian and miscellaneous manuscripts, with subjects including history, geography, biography and literature. It names several scripts and describes manuscripts as illuminated, decorated and illustrated. These terms describe different features of a book: the shape of writing, ornament around it and pictures within it need not perform the same task. A manuscript’s language also remains distinct from its script and subject.[2]
The museum’s exhibition includes a twentieth-century print labelled as tughra calligraphy. It also describes Sadequain’s Sura Yasin running along the tops of showcases in the Islamic gallery. Writing here enters the arrangement of a modern display, surrounding other objects rather than belonging to their original surfaces. Together, the collection descriptions show why calligraphy can be considered through support and setting as well as named styles. They do not establish that every displayed manuscript or print was made in Punjab.[2]
Sources & notes
Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.
- Masooma Abbas and Syeda Roohi Jamal; Journal of Development and Social Sciences 5(2), pp. 604–618. Epigraphic Scheme of the Bestowed Mughal Mosque of Maryam Zamani at Lahore ↗authored architectural/epigraphic field study · Source date: 2024-05-17 · Locator: Printed p. 606 / PDF p. 3: methods; pp. 610–612 / PDF pp. 7–9: mihrab relief, competing script identifications and dome medallions; captions identify photographs taken in 2007. Accessed 2026-11-02.The specified methods and case-analysis passages in the actual PDF were read. No inscription was independently transcribed and no Quranic text is reproduced.Return to Words in plaster, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Reading an altered surface, paragraph 1 ↑
- Lahore Museum; institutional Google Arts & Culture exhibition. The Lahore Museum ↗institutional collection interpretation · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: The Manuscripts Collection; Calligraphy Print, Tughra Script, 20th Century label; The Collection of Islamic Art, Sura Yasin display description. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual institutional story and named labels were read. No accession file or physical manuscript was examined.Return to Pages, prints and display, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Pages, prints and display, paragraph 2 ↑
Record PH-CUL-0099 · English edition · human review not performed