Arts of the Islamic World
Arts of the Islamic World
A BOOK OF ADVICE IN PROSE AND VERSE, INCLUDING QUOTES FROM ‘ABDULLAH ANSARI’S WORKS, SA’DI’S GULISTAN, NIZAMI’S MAKHZAN AL-ASRAR, AND LUQMAN’S ADVICE TO HIS SON, COPIED BY SHAH QASIM, PERSIA, HERAT, SAFAVID, DATED 1014 AH/1605 AD
Auction Closed
October 23, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A BOOK OF ADVICE IN PROSE AND VERSE, INCLUDING QUOTES FROM ‘ABDULLAH ANSARI’S WORKS, SA’DI’S GULISTAN, NIZAMI’S MAKHZAN AL-ASRAR, AND LUQMAN’S ADVICE TO HIS SON, COPIED BY SHAH QASIM, PERSIA, HERAT, SAFAVID, DATED 1014 AH/1605 AD
Persian manuscript on marbled or gold sprinkled paper, 34 leaves, plus 2 fly-leaves, 10 lines to the page, written in nasta’liq in black ink, text occasionally divided into two columns, ruled in blue, red, green and gold, multicoloured margins decorated with flora and fauna in gold, f.1b with a polychrome and gold heading (‘unwan), in a black gilt Safavid stamped binding with polychrome filigree doublures
23.8 by 15.4cm.
The volume includes quotes from different poets and authors, including ‘Abdullah Ansari’s Munajat, his Nasayih and Ilahi-nameh; Sa’di’s Gulistan; Nizami’s Makhzan al-Asrar, and Luqman’s advice to his son, with a few unidentified authors. The colophon of the first work is signed by ‘the sinful Shah Qasim’. Shah Qasim was a late sixteenth seventeenth-century scribe, whose biography is not recorded. From his recorded work, one understands that he mainly worked in Herat and was alive in 1618-19 AD (M.Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-navisan, nasta’liq navisan, vol.1, 1345 sh, pp.290-2). Some of his calligraphies are now in the Gulistan Library, Tehran, the National Museum in Iran (formerly the Iran Bastan Museum) and the University of Hyderabad in Sindh.
There are two seal impressions, one of Ahmad ibn ‘Ataullah, dated 1206 AH (?)/1791-92 AD and one of Mihrab, dated 1219 AH/1804-05 AD.