Summary:
Superb album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ or murakkâ) employing verses of Anvari, etc. with interspersed figurative illustrations of lions, dragons, stags, bulls, etc. as well as vegetal motifs, all embossed in white paper likely with the fingernail, a technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Contributions to the description from Ulrich Marzolph and Emily Neumeier.
Layout:
Varies widely, pages carrying text with mainly 6-8 lines per page ; many pages carrying figurative or vegetal decoration only.
Script:
Mainly nastaʻlīq with occasional thuluth ; exquisite calligraphic hand executed with the fingernail or stylus in the technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Compare no. 1-85-154.63 at the Library of Congress and see description provided by Christiane Gruber in Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy (available online).
1
Decoration:
Embossed borders (reminiscent of mountains) as well as vegetal and figurative designs with such animals as lions, dragons, stags, bulls, etc. accenting the calligraphy or filling a page.
Support:
Paper of written area embossed to carry text and figurative designs, set in surface-dyed frames of bright green and mounted on pasteboards.
Binding:
Pasteboards covered in dark green straight-grain leather ; Type II binding (with flap) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in a streaked paper (in yellow, dark purple, etc. reminiscent of tree-marbling or stream marbling) ; upper and lower covers carry gold-stamped central vegetal pendant, corner accents and vegetal border ; sewn in red thread, four stations, failed ; overall in fair condition with abrasion, staining, etc.
Former Shelfmarks:
"598 [?]" inscribed in pencil on verso of 'front' flyleaf ; "123" inscribed in pencil on recto of 'back' flyleaf.
Origin:
Date below vase with large floral spray 1281 [1864 or 5] ; other features also suggest 19th century. As appears in opening text, possibly executed for the Ottoman statesman Mehmet Fuat Paşa (d.1869).
Ownership and History:
Inscriptions in pencil "598 [?]" on verso of front flyleaf and "123" on recto of 'back' flyleaf ; red circular bookseller's sticker "De Marinis & Co. | 5 Vecchietti | Firenze" on 'upper' pastedown ; inscription in blue ink on recto of back flyleaf "على قوشى رسملى رسم ٧" ; clean copy.
Contributor(s) / Included work(s):
07--Anvarī, Awḥad al-Dīn,--d. 1189 or 90.--Poems.--Selections.
07--انورى، اوحد الدين.--اشعار.--منتخبات.
References:
Brocade of the pen : the art of Islamic writing. Carol Garrett Fisher, ed. (East Lansing, MI: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, 1991),no.8, p.84Zakariya, Mohamed. "Islamic calligraphy: A technical overview." In Brocade of the pen: the art of Islamic writing. Carol Garrett Fisher, ed. (East Lansing, MI: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, 1991):1-17ʻArabʻzādah, Abū al-Faz̤l. "Muʻarrifī-i as̲arī-i nādir al-vujūd va nafīs: Khaṭṭ-i nākhunī." Payām-i Bahāristān, dawrah-i 2, shumārah-i 4, (Tābistān 1388 [2009]):831-882Library of Congress no. 1-85-154.63, available online(Christiane Gruber, Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy, digital id ascs 109)
Posted by evyn on February 7, 2011
Tags: Abdul Hamid Collection, Fully Catalogued, Persian MSS
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