North Indian Koranic Hand-Carved Wooden Printing Block

This superb wooden printing block from north India has been hand-carved with many lines of Arabic script (carved in reverse for printing purposes). The script is religious and Koranic – the syllable for Allah (God) appears several times.

Shaped as an elongated hexagon, the reverse has been carved with a raised section to allow the user to grip the block whilst printing.

The religious nature of the printing block suggests it was used to print on textiles of a religious nature – possibly talismanic cotton shirts that sometimes would be worn by soldiers and others to provide them with protection.

The printing block has the most wonderful patina. Its significant age is very evident.