Details

Library of Congress genre(s)

• Poetry [Browse]

Rare books genre

• Lacquered bindings [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• Headpieces (layout features)—Islamic Empire—16th century [Browse]
• Illuminated manuscripts—Islamic Empire—16th century [Browse]

Summary note

Lavishly illuminated collection of Niẓāmī Ganjavī's epic poems, with twenty-five miniatures from the late 16th century.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
• Title from fol. 2b-3a.
• On inner front cover: Label reading "Douane Centrale Paris."
• Physical description: 19 lines per page, in four columns; written in small nastaʻliq in black on beige glazed, laid Arabic paper. Original leaves mounted on new borders of red, green, and blue marbled paper. Text bordered by gold, orange, and blue with outer marginal orange or blue border; columns separated by two gold lines. Text occasionally written on a diagonal. Repairs to original leaves on fol. 384-392. Leaf missing between fol. 240-241, likely containing a miniature of Bahrām Gūr in the turquoise pavilion. Light smudging. Otherwise in excellent condition.
• Decoration: On fol. 2b-3a, lavishly illuminated two-page spread in gold, blue, and other colors, containing the title of the volume in gold and the beginning of the first text in white. ʻUnwans for each text, the pages facing them, and the pages facing the miniatures elaborately illuminated in gold and colors. Headings in white and set in gold boxes containing a floral pattern and bordered by blue. Gold, blue, and orange illuminations fill in empty spaces around diagonal text. Twenty-five good quality miniatures of the late 16th century, including two full-page paintings on fol. 1b, 2a.
• Origin: Copy completed by Mawlānā al-Kātib al-Shīrāzī in 970 H [1562 or 3] (fol. 392a--part of colophon is missing due to paper repair).

Binding note

Lacquered covers, damaged, with leather spine. Front cover depicts the meeting of Khusraw and Shīrīn while hunting. Back cover appears to depict a gathering of dervishes, but it is likely a scene from the Khamsah. Paper doublures painted with gold flowers on a maroon background, bordered by black and gold bands containing a colored floral pattern. Likely early 19th century.

Language note

Persian.

Contents

• Texts: fol. 2b-36a: [Makhzan al-asrār]
• fol. 36b-128a: Kitāb-i Khusraw va Shīrīn
• fol. 128b-193a: Kitāb-i Laylá va Majnūn
• fol. 193b-265a: Kitāb-i Haft paykar
• fol. 265b-353a: Kitāb-i Sharafʹnāmah
• fol. 353b-392a: Sharafʹnāmah-i Iskandarī [ i.e. Iqbālʹnāmah].
• Miniatures: fol. 1b: [Khusraw enthroned]
• fol. 2b: [Shīrīn enthroned]
• fol. 18b: [Sultan Sanjar and the old woman]
• fol. 28b: [The tyrannical king and the old man]
• fol. 33b: [Hārūn al-Rashīd in the bathhouse]
• fol. 53b: [Khusraw observes Shīrīn bathing]
• fol. 86a: [Shīrīn visits Farhād in the mountains]
• fol. 97a: [Khusraw at Shīrīn's castle]
• fol. 106b: [Shīrīn laments the departure of Khusraw]
• fol. 140b: [Majnūn and Laylá at school]
• fol. 157b: [Majnūn brought to Laylá's tent by the old woman]
• fol. 165b: [Majnūn in the desert]
• fol. 183b: [Majnūn and Laylá faint at their last meeting]
• fol. 211b: [Bahrām seizes the crown while killing two lions]
• fol. 221b: [Bahrām Gūr in the black pavilion]
• fol. 229b: [Bahrām Gūr in the yellow pavilion]
• fol. 233a: [Bahrām Gūr in the green pavilion]
• fol. 237a: [Bahrām Gūr in the red pavilion]
• fol. 246a: [Bahrām Gūr in the sandalwood pavilion]
• fol. 251a: [Bahrām Gūr in the white pavilion]
• fol. 261b: [Bahrām kills the unjust vizier]
• fol. 282b: [Iskandar battling the Zangīs]
• fol. 342a: [Iskandar battling the Russians]
• fol. 373b: [Iskandar's meeting with the seven sages]
• fol. 388a: [Iskandar hunting].

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Source acquisition

Gift; Robert Garrett (Class of 1897), 1942.

References

Moghadam, M. E. et al. Garrett collection, no. 9

OCLC

770396554

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