ARABIC LETTERFORM LAB / EXPERIMENT 01

THE LETTER الحرف

MĪM / م
FORM · HISTORY · TYPE · CODE

A source-led prototype for examining one Arabic letter across documented objects and live digital typography. Historical images remain attached to their museum records.

ENTER THE ARCHIVE ↓

SOURCE OBJECTS

THE LIFE OF MĪM

Four verified public-domain objects establish the research corridor for Phase 1. They are not presented as a simple evolutionary sequence.

METHOD NOTE Object metadata and image rights are verified. Letter-level transcriptions and crop coordinates will only be added after manual palaeographic review.

OBJECT VIEWER

SCRIPT MICROSCOPE

Select an object above, zoom into its material surface, then return to the museum record without losing provenance.

FULL OBJECT / NO SYNTHETIC IMAGERY

ANALYTICAL LAYER

LETTER ANATOMY

A modern diagram for learning terms and relationships—not a tracing of any historical object.

م FORM HEIGHT BASELINE COUNTER / NEGATIVE SPACE RTVAULT ANALYTICAL DIAGRAM / NOT A HISTORICAL SPECIMEN

ISOLATEDمU+0645

INITIALمـJOINING RIGHT

MEDIALـمـJOINING BOTH

FINALـمJOINING LEFT

LIVE TYPOGRAPHY

WORD LABORATORY

The browser shapes real Unicode text using open-licensed digital typefaces. This is typography, not generated imagery.

مختبر الحرف العربي

UNICODE STREAM U+0645 U+062E U+062A U+0628 U+0631 U+0020 U+0627 U+0644 U+062D U+0631 U+0641 U+0020 U+0627 U+0644 U+0639 U+0631 U+0628 U+064A

PROVENANCE

RIGHTS LEDGER

Each image remains connected to its institution, object number, catalog record, and recorded reuse status.

ID	OBJECT	DATE	OBJECT NO.	RIGHTS	SOURCE
A01	Qur’an folio	8th–9th c.	1984.504.1	PUBLIC DOMAIN	THE MET ↗
A02	Red parchment folio	Probably 9th c.	40.164.1a	PUBLIC DOMAIN	THE MET ↗
A03	Qur’an folio	1092	37.111.1	PUBLIC DOMAIN	THE MET ↗
A04	Calligraphy album	Ca. 1500	1982.120.3	PUBLIC DOMAIN	THE MET ↗

ORIGINAL OBJECT

Museum scan displayed without synthetic reconstruction.

DOCUMENTED SOURCE

Accession number and institution record attached.

ANALYTICAL LAYER

RTVault diagrams are explicitly labeled as analysis.

RESEARCH STATUS

Unverified letter crops remain unpublished.