Shaykh Muslih al-Din Sa’di (d.1291/92 AD), Kulliyat (Collected Works), an illustrated and illuminated manuscript, India, probably Delhi, circa 1800
Auction Closed
March 31, 12:40 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Persian manuscript on paper, 597 pages plus 2 fly-leaves, misbound, 15 lines to the page, written in black nasta’liq, gold and black intercolumnar rules, text within gold and polychrome rules, headings in red, catchwords, each section with an opening illuminated bifolium, with 49 illustrations in gouache heightened in gold, later final page with text in fine nasta'liq within cusped cartouches in nakhuni technique with interlinear text in black ink, in gilt tooled leather binding, with marbled paper doublures
29 by 17cm.
This manuscript contains a compilation of works by the 13th century, Shirazi poet Sa’di, including texts from the Persian qasidas, the Gulistan, the Bustan, ghazals, and the pand-nameh.
The bold marginal decoration comprising single, flowering plants in the Mughal style, and the illustrations suggest that the manuscript was produced in North India, probably in Delhi, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. An additional page added at the end of the manuscript bears text in very fine nasta’liq script in the nakhuni (nail) technique. The text is a quatrain by Abu Sa’id Abu’l Khayr asking God for forgiveness. The interlinear text in black ink is by a scribe called ‘Ali Bayg addressing a high official, without naming him, asking for favours. This is not the same scribe as that of the Kulliyat.