This document features a chancery script written in rotulus format. The script is curvilinear and proportioned with a highly variable ductus and pervasive hairlines, including minute hairlines connecting letters such as rāʾ to succeeding letters.
e.g. mard line 2:


Letter shapes are regular and consistent throughout. The open spaces in the heads of letters such as ḥāʾ and ʿayn are clear and pronounced; the bowls of letters such as wāw, nūn, and qāf are perfectly rounded.
e.g. at the end of line 1:


Abusive ligatures are frequent.
e.g. ʿādil line 4: 


Baselines are nested and stacked, with each succeeding word beginning above the previous. Words are stacked toward the ends of lines.
e.g. marāʿī line 5:


Interlinear spacing is wide. Lines slope upward. A notable divergence from Arabic chancery practice appears in the execution of final jīm: rather than closing in a bowl connected to the following word by a hairline, the letter ends in an elaborate loop of consistent stroke width.

These features — curvilinear and proportioned script, highly variable ductus, pervasive hairlines, abusive ligatures, nested and stacked baselines, stacked words at line-ends, wide interlinear spacing, and upward-sloping lines — conform to the graphic conventions of the Abbasid/Buyid chancery of Baghdad.

Glossary

Abusive ligature — the joining of canonically non-connecting letters (e.g. alif) to a succeeding letter; a feature of both cursive and chancery scripts

Bowl — the rounded closed or semi-closed curve of a letter which descends below the baseline, as in wāw, qāf, nūn, and sīn

Curvilinear — a script characterised by long, rounded, flowing strokes, most evident in the loops of letters such as fā or ʿayn, and in the bowls of letters such as yāʾ or nūn; distinct from cursive

Ductus — the movement of the pen caused by the gestures of the scribe when writing; particularly relevant when describing variation in stroke width between thick and thin strokes

Hairline — a very fine, thin stroke, typically connecting letters

Interlinear spacing — the space between lines of text

Nested baselines — baselines of individual words which are slanted, with succeeding words beginning above the end of the preceding word

Proportioned script — a script in which letterforms are executed according to consistent geometric ratios, typically based on the height of the alif and the diameter of a circle; associated with formal calligraphic training

Rotulus — a document in the form of a long vertical scroll

Stacked words — words written above one another toward the end of a line, a deliberate layout convention of the chancery style

Further Reading

• Shawe-Taylor, Edward. 2026. “Abbasid Continuities and Seljuk Innovations: Persian State Documents in the Bamiyan and Firuzkuh Papers.” In State Documents from the Medieval Islamicate World, edited by Nadia Vidro, Arezou Azad, and Marina Rustow. Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming.