Islamic calligraphy appearing in Renaissance art

“Kufic script is a lovely and ancient variant of the Arabic alphabet that developed out of the Nabatean alphabet of Classical-era Petra. There are many Kufic examples to draw from in this time era, including the (8th century) Qur’an highlighting the characteristic angular style of the script, which made it uniquely well-suited for use in stone inscriptions, pottery and in rugs and other woven items:

Fascinatingly, this distinctive writing style appears in literally hundreds of examples of early Renaissance art, especially in oil paintings produced in the fourteenth and fifteenth century Italian city-states, where luxury goods from the Muslim world frequently flowed via Mediterranean trade channels.”

Source: http://resobscura.blogspot.ca/2010/08/pseudo-kufic-renaissance-imitations-of.html