Lot 21

Sabsavari, Amir Shahi. Diwan, Illustrated and Illuminated Persian manuscript on Paper, Safavid, Persia, 16th Century

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

144 leaves, approximately 6 lines of fine black nasta'liq text per page on the diagonal within central panels, marginal annotations in similar style, catchwords in gold, interspersed with panels decorated with scrolling foliate motif in colours and gold, fine margins of peach coloured paper with illuminated floral sprays, birds and animals, incomplete with 5 later nineteenth century miniatures, tooled leather binding

The poems in the margins are by Ahli Shirazi (d. A.H.942/A.D.1535-6)

Catalogue Note

This manuscript displays some fine marginal illumination, a feature that is both highly decorative and imbued with meaning. The calligrapher Malik Daylami, who wrote the preface to an album compiled for Amir Husayn Beg in 1560-61, compares each element and the structure of a manuscript to nature. The album itself is likened to a garden whose leaves are studded with jewels, the marginal rules are rivers or streams, and the birds and trees in the margins are the nightingales and partridges in the lush garden he employs as his metaphor. During the Safavid period the manuscript was considered a place of harmony, full of rich imagery; and the illuminator of this anthology has indeed created a literary garden (see Roxburgh, 1005, p.188-180).