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Rayhan script

Made Objects Words

خط الريحان

One of the six proportional pens, a smaller variant and partner of muhaqqaq, preferred for chancery documents, colophons, book covers and carpet pages 1.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Global / Diaspora

Arts of the book

Summary

Rayhan is one of the six pens; for Maryam Ekhtiar it is a smaller variant of muhaqqaq, with which it forms a large–small pair. 2 1

Uses

The author notes that rayhan, with tawqi' and riqa', was preferred for chancery documents and colophons, and to embellish book covers and carpet pages. 1 She also lists it among the scripts that emerged for administrative use in the chanceries. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Exemplified by
Arghun ibn Abdallah al-Kamili

People and things also explored

Arghun ibn Abdallah al-Kamili· Yaqut al-Musta'simi· Baghdad· Abbasid tin-glazed ware· Ahmadnagar painting· Proportional script and the six pens (al-aqlam al-sitta)· Arabesque· Bijapur painting

Sources

  1. Maryam D. Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018) , p. 26
  2. Maryam D. Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018) , p. 25
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Rayhan script”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/rayhan-script/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Arghun ibn Abdallah al-Kamili

Calligrapher, one of the three main followers of Yaqut al-Musta'simi in Iraq, active in the first half of the fourteenth century and best known for Qur'an manuscripts in rayhan script.