Arts of the Islamic World
Arts of the Islamic World
AYN AL-QUDAT HAMADANI (D.1130 AD), TAMHIDAT, ON MYSTICISM, COPIED BY ABU’L-MAKARIM B. ‘ALI AL-MURSHIDI, PERSIA, TIMURID OR AQQOYUNLU, DATED 866 AH/1461-62 AD
Auction Closed
October 23, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AYN AL-QUDAT HAMADANI (D.1130 AD), TAMHIDAT, ON MYSTICISM, COPIED BY ABU’L-MAKARIM B. ‘ALI AL-MURSHIDI, PERSIA, TIMURID OR AQQOYUNLU, DATED 866 AH/1461-62 AD
Persian manuscript on paper, 173 leaves, plus 2 fly-leaves, 14 lines to the page, written in naskh in black ink, important sentences in gold or red thuluth, ruled in gold and blue, f.1b and f.2a with a gold and polychrome illuminated frontispiece, in brown gilt and stamped leather binding, with flap
text panel: 10.3 by 7.8cm.
leaf: 15.2 by 12cm.
The author
Abu’l-Ma’ali Abdallah ibn Abi Bakr Muhammed Mayaneji ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d.1131 AD) was born in Hamadan, in modern-day Iran. From a very early age he turned to Sufism and was educated by Muhammad ibn Hammuya and Ahmad al-Ghazali (d.1126 AD), the brother of Muhammad al-Ghazali (d.1111 AD). He became a Sufi teacher, attracting many students from all over Central Asia, to the point that the Seljuk vizir in Baghdad imprisoned him for several months. He was later released and sent back to Hamadan, where he was tortured and sentenced to death.
The text
The Tamhidat ('Preludes' on mysticism) is his most important work in Persian. The manuscript deals with the Sufi tradition, rituals, philosophical assumptions and some Quranic interpretations. The text became popular in sixteenth-century Ottoman Turkey and was translated twice into Turkish (see F. Meier, Der Islam 24, 1937, p.5). The present copy is testament to Hamdani’s popularity in Turkey as it was owned by an Ottoman, ‘Abd al-Shukur, who left his seal impression dated 1283 AH (1866-67 AD).
The scribe
Better known as Abu al-Makarim ibn 'Ali Murshidi, Abu Makarim was a court calligrapher active during mid-fifteenth-century Persia, under Uzun Hasan (r.1457-78) and Sultan Yaqub (r.1478-90). For more information about the court of Sultan Yaqub see lot 121 in the current sale. Only four other works by Abu al-Makarim are known: the first is a manuscript copy of the Qasida al-Burda in thuluth and naskh scripts, accompanied by its Persian translation and dated 873 AH/1468 AD (M.Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-navisan, vol.iv, 1358sh, p.11); a copy of the Qur'an, executed in thuluth script and dated 875 AH/1470 AD, now in the Topkapi Saray Museum Library (TSM inv.no.K.13, see F.E. Karatay, Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu, volume 1, Istanbul, 1962, pp.102-3, cat.368); a copy of Rumi’s Mathnavi dated 862 AH/1457 AD (F.E. Karatay, Farsça Yazmalar Kataloğu, Istanbul, 1961, p.178, cat.505) and a copy of Dua' al-Usbuiyyah (Prayers for each day of the week) which combines thuluth and naskh scripts (sold in these rooms 24 April 2013, lot 12).