ILLUMINATED PAGE FROM A DIVAN OF SULTAN HUSAYN MIRZA BAYQARA, WITH DÉCOUPAGE NASTA'LIQ CALLIGRAPHY, EASTERN PERSIA, HERAT, CIRCA 1490

Chagatay manuscript page, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 8 lines of fine nasta'liq découpage calligraphy in white, pale blue and yellow on buff paper, illuminated heading panel with title in white nasta'liq, wide borders of gold-sprinkled buff paper

The manuscript from which this folio originates is one of the most remarkable examples of royal book production in the late medieval Islamic world. Throughout the entire manuscript the calligraphy is not written with a pen, as was the norm, but cut out from coloured paper (qit'a) and pasted onto the page. The technical virtuousity that this entails is extraordinary, and the general quality of the manuscript can be seen not only in the découpé calligraphy, but also in the exquisite illumination of the heading panels (as here) and the opening double-page frontispiece (see Lentz and Lowry 1989, cat.148, p.268, and Sakisian 1929, fig.66), and the elegant gold-sprinkled borders. In conception alone it is inspiringly ambitious, in execution it is superb. It has been suggested by Anthony Welch that Sultan Ali Mashhadi himself may have been the calligrapher responsible for this masterpiece (Geneva 1985, p.65).

Another page from this manuscript is lot 41 in this sale. See footnote to that lot for further discussions.

For other published illustrations and references see:
Lentz and Lowry 1989, cats.148-149, pp.268-270, 359-60
Roxburgh 2005, fig.92, pp.170-171
Sakisian 1929, fig.66
Geneva 1985, no.35