Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
MUHAMMAD GHAZALI MASHHADI (D.1572), NAQSH-E BADI, A POEM ON MYSTIC LOVE, SIGNED BY BABA SHAH AL-ISFAHANI, PERSIA, SAFAVID, CIRCA SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
June 10, 06:00 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
MUHAMMAD GHAZALI MASHHADI (D.1572), NAQSH-E BADI, A POEM ON MYSTIC LOVE, SIGNED BY BABA SHAH AL-ISFAHANI, PERSIA, SAFAVID, CIRCA SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on gold sprinkled paper, 43 leaves, 12 lines to the page, written in nasta’liq in black ink, text divided into two columns, ruled in green, orange, gold and blue, f.1b with a polychrome and gold headpiece, f.25b with one miniature depicting Layla and Majnun, in brown leather binding with stamped gilt decoration, doublures with a central medallion and corner-pieces decorated with filigree over a coloured ground
24 by 14.7cm.
Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), New York .
Hagop Kevorkian Fund, sold at Sotheby’s London, 26 April 1982, lot 93.
Private collection, UK.
This fine and balanced exercise of nasta’liq was copied by the great master of calligraphy Baba Shah, calligrapher and poet at the court of Shah Tahmasp (r.1524-76). The text, a mystical poem, was composed by his contemporary Ghazali Mashhadi, who also spent some time at the Safavid court and who dedicated a qasida of this poem to Shah Tahmasp (on f.13a of the current manuscript).
Few details regarding Baba Shah’s life have survived: he started studying calligraphy early in his youth and was taught by the great master Mir Ali Harawi (d.1544 AD). He worked at the court of Shah Tahmasp, where he was given the title of 'Chief of Chiefs'. Muhammad Ghazali Mashhadi (d.1572), author of the current poem, also joined the court of Shah Tahmasp at roughly the same time, although was exiled to India where he joined the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Although Ghazali likely left for India before Baba Shah’s arrival, his liberal and mystical thinking must have been an inspiration and a model for Baba Shah.
Baba Shah lived in Isfahan and Baghdad, where he died in 1587/88. His recorded works are dated between 977 AH/1569-70 AD and 994 AH/1586-87 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, vol.I, Tehran, 1345 sh, pp.85-91). Considered the master of nasta’liq, he composed a treatise titled Adab al-mashq in which he outlined the main principles of nasta’liq alongside "the aesthetic and religious basis of Islamic calligraphy, and it reveals in particular a visionary method of concentration strongly influenced by Sufism" (Ernst 1992, p.279).
For a list of Baba Shah's works, please see the online version of the catalogue.