Spousal Advice

This calligraphic fragment includes six lines of script written right-side-up and up-side-down in Thuluth script in black ink on a beige sheet of folio pasted to an orange sheet backed by cardboard. Together, the six continuous lines of text in Arabic read: “A father speaks to a mother [and says] this is what is joyful to a tender and loving father and one who knows that this behavior is desirable. You, as their mother, must be a sound, healthy, and pure soul; you should implement these [manners] as my will in God's following; you should spend within what God limits in your life; and you should accept what is given, what is permitted and forbidden, and you must not disobey this.” These husbandly recommendations seek to promote goodness and piety in a woman who is also a mother. The saying belongs to the broader category of nasihat (advice) in Arabic moral literature. The signature on the fragment is up-side-down between the last two lines of text. The calligrapher 'Abdallah states that he has written the piece, but he does not provide a date. The calligrapher may be identified as 'Abdallah Lahuri, who was active in Lahore during the 18th century. Another fragment of his work, execu