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Article: Mightier Than The Sword
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 6, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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IN MANDISHAN did Kublai Khan a travelers' guest house decree. The
writ of the great Mongol ran from China to northeast Iran, with his
seal for all to see. The elaborately inscribed document, issued in
1292, is included in a Sackler Gallery exhibition on the golden age
of Islamic calligraphy.
"It looks very impressive," says Sackler curator Massumeh Farhad
of the ancient scroll, "but the text is quite formulaic. It amounts
to a lot of whereases and now therefores, before you get to the one
sentence that says what it's about, which is the designation of the
taxes from the village of Mandishan for the support of a hospice for
visitors."
Formulaic perhaps, but the beautiful boilerplate and the ...