# Calligraphy of Chaghatai Turkish Poems in Praise of Wine (verso)

- By: Mirza Muhammad (probably Persian, active c. 1520s)
- By: Sultan Muhammad Nur (Persian, c. 1472–1536)
- Date: c. 1500–1520
- Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Page: 36.2 x 24.3 cm (14 1/4 x 9 9/16 in.)
- Culture: Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)
- Credit line: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.292.b)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/2013.292.b/2013.292.b_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This page of delicately illuminated calligraphy from the pre-Mughal period was mounted into a Mughal album. The poems are written in the native language of the Mughals, a form of Turkish called Chaghatai, using a flowing form of Arabic script called nasta‘liq. The Mughals self-consciously adopted Persian as their official court language, so few Chaghatai books or works of calligraphy were made for them.

The quatrain in the center reads: The wine has made an attempt on my life, Since it is the wine that can wear down the pain of separation. O Sufi! Let the mosque be for you, and the tavern for me, Since you need to arrive at the Spring of Kowsar, while I am in need of wine! The Spring of Kowsar is where the righteous quench their thirst in the afterlife.