Rayhani script

Reyhan or Rayḥānī (Arabic: ریحان) is one of the six canonical scripts of Perso-Arabic calligraphy.

The word Reyhan means basil in Arabic and Persian.

Reyhan is considered a finer variant of Muhaqqaq script, likened to flowers and leaves of basil.

[1] Rayḥānī was developed during the Abbasid era by Ibn al-Bawwab.

[2] Academic studies of Rayhani have included analytical study of the technical characteristics of Yaqut al-Musta’simi's method.

Double-page from the Qur'an copied by 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Bakr b 'Abd al-Rahman al-Katib al-Maliki, called Zarin Qalam (Golden Pen). Each page of this manuscript has nineteen lines of text; the first, tenth, and nineteenth lines are written in muhaqqaq , and the two blocks sandwiched in between each comprise eight lines in rayhani. Iran , 1186. Chester Beatty Library

Opening pages from a Qur'an copied in rayhani by Yaqut al-Musta’simi . Baghdad , 1286/1287. Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

Double-page from a Mamluk Qur'an copied in rayhani by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Mukattib al-Ashrafi (attribution). Cairo , c. 1370–1375. British Library