Poems of 'Abd al-Rahman Jami, copied during his lifetime by Fakhr al-Din Ahmad, Persia, Khurasan, Aqqoyunlu, dated 872 AH/1467 AD

Persian manuscript on polished cream paper, 43 leaves, plus 2 flyleaves, 14 lines to the page, written within 2 columns in fine nasta'liq script in black ink, headings in blue, red and gold, catchwords, folio 1b with a finely illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, comprising a heading in ornamental gold Kufic script against a ground of interlacing red split-palmettes, within a panel filled with scrolling gold vines and flowerheads, illuminated colophon, folio 1a with the seal impression of the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III, brown leather binding with stamped cartouches decorated with interweaving flowerheads and split-palmettes 

The library of the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74)

In reasonably good overall condition, some stains and smudges, ink bold and illumination bright, thumbed, abrasions to extremities, as viewed.
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The present manuscript was executed following the dissolution of the Qaraqoyunlu royal atelier in 1466. It is likely to be the earliest manuscript completed by Fakhr al-Din Ahmad before he was appointed the position of court calligrapher for Prince Sultan Khalil, for whom he worked for the succeeding eleven years. On the opening page there is a seal bearing the Ottoman Imperial monogram indicating the manuscript was brought to Istanbul before the mid-eighteenth century, and in the possession of the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74).

During the initial years of his extensive career, Fakhr al-Din Ahmad worked in Qaraqoyunlu Baghdad. There are several poems belonging to this period. One example is a copy of a poem executed in nasta’liq script, dated 866 AH/1461 AD, in the Yakub Beg Album in the Topkapi Saray Library (H.2160, 85b). Another example from the same year is a copy of diwan-i kamal khojandi, also in nasta’liq, which can be found in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul (TIEM inv. No.2050). During this period, Fakhr al-Din Ahmad also completed works for the Turkmen Amir, Jalaladdin Husayn Tarshan. A poem executed for the Amir can be found in the Yakub Beg Album, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, (H.21460, 41b), dated 870 AH/1465 AD.

Before 1466, Fakhr al-Din Ahmad moved to Shiraz to work for the Aqqoyunlu prince, Sultan Khalil, who was also governor of Shiraz. During this period Fakhr al-Din Ahmad was commissioned to produce numerous works which he executed with outstanding refinement. A luxuriously illustrated diwan-i hafiz, dated 875 AH/1471 AD and a collection of poems which he copied in 879 AH/1475 AD can both be found in the Bibliothèque National, Paris (Supp. Persian 271 and 1417 resprectively).

A poem by Masud-i Sa’d-i Salman, copied by the scribe in 882 AH/1477 AD, and his last known work, The diwan-i awhadi, copied in 900 AH/1495 AD, are both in the Topkapi Saray Library (H.2160, 60a and TSM R.1005).