Arts of the Islamic World & India

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 150. Nizami (d.1209), Khamsa, signed by ibn Husain Murad 'Ali Damavandi, Persia, Safavid, dated the beginning of Rabi' I 1061 AH/ 23 February 1651 AD .

Nizami (d.1209), Khamsa, signed by ibn Husain Murad 'Ali Damavandi, Persia, Safavid, dated the beginning of Rabi' I 1061 AH/ 23 February 1651 AD

Estimate

50,000 - 70,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Persian manuscript on paper, 303 leaves plus 1 flyleaf, 25 lines to the page written in black nasta'liq in four gold-outlined columns, titles in red, with six polychrome and gold illuminated title pages, comprising twenty-eight illustrations in gouache heightened with gold, in brown morocco binding with lacquered medallions to centre

text panel: 26.6 by 14.6cm.; leaf: 36.2 by 21.6cm.; binding: 37.4 by 22.4cm.

This finely illuminated and illustrated royal manuscript was formerly in the library of the Qajar prince Farhad Mirza (1818-88). He was the grandson of the second Qajar ruler of Iran, Fath ‘Ali Shah (r.1797-1834), and the younger brother of the third Qajar ruler, Muhammad Shah (r.1834-48). Known for his passion for collecting Persian and Arabic manuscripts, the prince had one of the most valuable personal libraries in Iran. The manuscript entered the library of the Prince on 15^th Shawwal 1298/ 10^th September 1881.

Little is known of the scribe Murad 'Ali ibn Husayn Damavandi, although he is known to have written the inscriptions on various monuments (katibeh-negar). Influences from the contemporaneous Safavid master artists such as Muhammad Zaman (active 1649-1704) and Mu’in Musavvir (1617-1708) are discernible in the colour palette and composition of the illustrations in the manuscript. A slightly later painting depicting ‘Shaykh San’an and the Christian maiden’, signed by Muhammad Zaman and dated 1676-77, sold in these rooms, 20 April 2016, lot 45. For a painting depicting an old shepherd leaning on his staff in a landscape, signed by Mu’in Musavvir and dated 1676, see lot 148 in the present sale.

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