Pseudo-Kufic

Pseudo-Kufic, or Kufesque, also sometimes pseudo-Arabic, is a style of decoration used during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, consisting of imitations of the Arabic script, especially Kufic, made in a non-Arabic context: "Imitations of Arabic in European art are often described as pseudo-Kufic, borrowing the term for an Arabic script that emphasizes straight and angular strokes, and is most commonly used in Islamic architectural decoration". Pseudo-Kufic appears especially often in Renaissance art in depictions of people from the Holy Land, particularly the Virgin Mary. It is an example of Islamic influences on Western art.

==Early examples== thumb|left|A mancus or gold [[dinar of the English king Offa (r. 757–796), a copy of the dinars of the Abbasid Caliphate (774). It displays the Latin legend Offa Rex ("King Offa") upside-down between the probably unintentionally copied Arabic محمد رسـول الـــله ("Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah").Abbasid Dinar for comparison:frameless]] thumb|Pseudo-Kufic script in medallion on Byzantine [[shroud of Saint Potentian, 12th century]] thumb|French Limoges enamel ciborium with rim engraved with Arabic script and Islamic-inspired diamond-shaped patterns, [[Limoges, France, 1215–30. British Museum]] Some of the first imitations of the Kufic script go back to the 8th century when the English King Offa (r. 757–796) produced gold coins imitating Islamic dinars. These coins were copies of an Abbasid dinar struck in 774 by Caliph Al-Mansur, with "Offa Rex" centred on the reverse. It is clear that the moneyer had no understanding of Arabic as the Arabic text contains many errors. The coin may have been produced in order to trade with Al-Andalus; or it may be part of the annual payment of 365 mancuses that Offa promised to Rome.