Calligraphy

📖 In short

Calligraphy is the art of writing letters in a beautiful, careful way, so the words become like a work of art. In this art the calligrapher cares about the shape of the letters, their harmony and how they join, more than just making them readable.

🤩 Did you know?

Chinese calligraphers write with a brush instead of a pen.
Some calligraphers train for many years before getting an ijaza (license) from their teacher.
Some calligraphy pieces are written in the shape of a bird, a boat or a tree.
Today calligraphers also design fonts for computers.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Calligraphy around the world

Many peoples practice calligraphy: the Chinese and Japanese write their characters with a brush and black ink, and Europeans decorated their old books with ornate colored letters.

🔍 Arabic calligraphy

Arabic calligraphy is one of the most beautiful in the world, because its flexible letters stretch, curve and interlace. That's why Muslims decorated mosques, books, dishes and carpets with it.

💡 The calligrapher's tools

A calligrapher uses a reed pen sharpened with a knife, glossy black ink and polished paper. It takes great patience and years of practice.

🎯 Rules and proportions

Each letter has its own measurements, and the calligrapher measures a letter's length with small dots made by the pen tip so all the letters in a word fit together.

🧩 Test yourself

1 What is the traditional Arabic calligrapher's pen made of?

2 What do Chinese calligraphers write with?

3 Which picture shows “Calligraphy”?