Tarsh

In post-classical Arabic, a () is an engraved block used for printing. They were made of wood or tin and were in use from around 900 to 1430. There are over a hundred known Arabic blockprints on paper, parchment and possibly papyrus. They are mostly small strips intended for use in amulets. They have mainly been identified in public and private collections, but a few prints have been recovered archaeologically at Fusṭāṭ in Egypt. No itself has yet been found.

History

The origin of , whether borrowed along with paper from China or invented independently in the Islamic world, is disputed. Richard Bulliet, contrasting the rapid adoption of paper and the marginalization of printing in the Islamic world, suggests a separate origin for each and thus the indigenous development of . The origin of the word is uncertain. The Semitic root () is related to deafness and () to writing (including the word for palimpsest), but an Egyptian origin has also been suggested.

Between the 10th and 14th centuries, several texts contain passages which could refer to block printing. Perhaps the earliest of these is Ibn al-Nadim's Fihrist of the late 10th century, where he mentions Egyptian magicians who use stamps. Around the same time, Abū Dulaf al-Khazrajī (fl. ca. 952) composed a panegyric about the , an informal guild of beggars, thieves, and confidence tricksters. Mentioning their use of the to produce amulets:

Two centuries later around 1232-1248 al-Jawbari seems to make mention of mass production of talismans, suggesting the printing process had become quite efficient.

Blockprinting wasn't limited to talismans, as shown by the printed Hajj certificates of the Umayyad mosque dating from the 11th to the 14th centuries.
Later, Under Gaykhatu (1291-1295), the Ilkhanate was in severe financial straits due to the excesses of himself and his predecessors as well as the financial mismanagement of his vizier Sadr al-Din Zinjani, leaving the treasury empty. In response they introduced paper money (Jiaochao) in July 1284, outlawing metal coinage. This paper currency was printed as mentioned by Rashid al-Din. Printing the value of the denomination in the centre, with decorative Chinese characters on the border and, in red ink, the imperial seal. Though shortly after the government rescinded its policy in wake of resistance by merchants and the general populace, leaving no surviving examples.

Block printing wasn't restricted to the Mashriq, Ibn al-Abbar (1199-1260) active throughout al-Andalus and the Maghreb mentions:

There is physical evidence in some prints that were at times made by pouring molten tin in clay moulds. According to Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī, an Iraqi poet of the fourteenth century:

That were sometimes carved or cast in Syriac and Hebrew ("phylactery-writing") is evidence that the prints were intended to impress illiterate people with their magical power rather than to be read. One printed Hebrew amulet is known, now at the University of Strasbourg. An Arabic amulet with a border in Syriac, Hebrew, Coptic, and Arabic writing is housed at the University of Utah. The Coptic writing is just transliterated Arabic text. The amulet A.Ch. 12.145, now in the Austrian National Library, is a fragment of a print made from the same as the Utah amulet. The use of Coptic may indicate that Egyptian Christians were among the buyers of prints.

The last extant example of a blockprinted talisman is dated with some certainty to the early 15th century, due to an Italian watermark on the paper dating to around 1405. After this date blockprinting vanishes without explanation and Medieval Arabic block printing had been completely forgotten by the time identified some prints in 1894.

The amulet texts printed from contain quotations from the Qurʾān, lists of the names of God and invocations. Some have geometric forms like circles, teardrops, hexagrams and Octagrams. Others have Magic Squares. The decoration was printed using a separate block, and the text could also be printed with multiple blocks, combining different fonts.

These extensive highly detailed and elaborate decorative elements would've been very labor-intensive to carve and mark a major difference between handwritten and blockprinted amulets. Attempting to increase the visual appeal of the item, pointing to a sophisticated and cultured consumer.

The amulets were rolled up and placed in metal cylinders that were worn around the neck. There are examples of calligraphy and at least one example of a Qurʾānic print that looks like it could have been a page from a book. The longest known text is 107 lines, printed from two blocks on a strip of paper .

Gallery

File:Block printed Talismanic scroll 1975.192.20.jpg, Block-printed Egyptian talismanic scroll, 11th–12th century
File:Block printed talismanic scroll 1978.546.33.jpg, Talismanic scroll with Kufic text in reserve, 11th century
File:Block printed talismanic scroll 1978.546.34.jpg, Fatimid block-printed talismanic scroll, 11th century
File:Block printed Talismanic Scroll 1978.546.38.jpg, Block printed talismanic scroll, 10th century
File:Fragment of a Talismanic Scroll 1971.237.1.jpg, Fragment of a talismanic scroll, 12th century
File:Block printed Talismanic scroll 1978.546.39.jpg, Block printed talismanic scroll, 11th–12th century
File:Block printed Talismanic Scroll 1978.546.35.jpg, Talismanic scroll with 8-pointed star, 11th century
File:Block printed Talismanic scroll 1978.546.36.jpg, Talismanic scroll, 11th century

References

Bibliography

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External links

Amulet scroll (''tarsh'') with polychrome block print
from The David Collection

History of printing
Relief printing
Medieval Arabic literature