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Folio of Nizami's Makhzan al-Asrar, by Hasan-'AliKatib for D…
See original version (French)
37
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Folio of Nizami's Makhzan al-Asrar, by Hasan-'AliKatib for D…
See original version (French)
Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Folio of Nizami's Makhzan al-Asrar, by Hasan-'AliKatib for Duraq Shah Ustajalu
Eastern Iran, Herat, c. AH 988 (circa AD 1580)
Ink, gouache and gold on paper, mounted on a cardboard page. The recto and verso each show a Persian text calligraphed in nastaliq on two columns, in frames enhanced with blue and gold. The wide margins, executed in polychrome and gold, partly stencilled, display a dense network of foliage scrolls punctuated with lotus flowers, tchi clouds and scalloped cartouches housing winged figures, readers, courtiers and fantastic creatures.
Text: 19 x 9 cm (7.5 x 3.5 in.); folio: 29 x 18.5 cm (11.4 x 7.3 in.)
Provenance: De Baecque
De Baecque sale, 18 December 2020, lot 460.
Similar works:
Christie's sale, London, 28 October 2021, lot 27.
Christie's sale, London, 5 October 2010, lot 227.
Christie's sale, London, 10 April 2014, lot 85.
Bibliography :
Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-i Khushnavisan, vol. 1, Tehran, 1345 H.sh., p. 146.
F. Çaïman & Z. Tanindi, "Remarks on Some Manuscripts from the Topkapi Palace Treasury in the Context of Ottoman- Safavid Relations", in Muqarnas, vol. XIII, Leiden / Brill, 1996, pp. 132-148.
Francis Richard, L'art du livre à l'époque Shaïbanide, quelques repères, 2020.
This folio comes from an important anthology, now dispersed, which brought together extracts from the greatest Persian poems - Nizami's Khamsa, Jami's Subhat al-Ahrar, Khosrow and Shirine, Leila and Majnoun, etc. - as well as some of the best-known Persian poems. The ensemble is distinguished by the extraordinary refinement of its illuminated margins: the gilded plant backgrounds, poly-lobed cartouches and small painted figures bear witness to a sophisticated decorative taste.
The decoration reveals the influence of production in Bukhara and Shaybanid Central Asia on the workshops of Khorasan in the 1580s: coloured papers, stencil motifs and the incorporation of calligraphic cartouches into the decoration are all hallmarks of these trans-regional productions. The name of the patron, Duraq Shah Ustajlu, appears on other folios from the same group; the Ustajlu belonged to the Qizilbash tribes who played a major role in the political, military and artistic development of the Safavid Empire under Isma'il I (r.1501-1524).
The calligrapher Hasan 'Ali Katib, who also signed his name Hasan 'Ali Mashhadi, was active at the court of 'Ali Quli Khan Shamlu (d. 1589), Safavid governor of Herat. A pupil of Mir Sayyid Ahmad Mashhadi, he was active in Mashhad, Herat, Nishapur and Iraq, as well as in the Ottoman Empire, and died in AH 1003 (AD 1594-95).
An illuminated folio from the Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami, signed by Hasan 'Ali Katib, Khorasan, probably Herat, circa 1580.
Ink, gouache and gold on paper, mounted in an album leaf, both recto and verso show Persian calligraphies, with fine margins carrying dense vegetal scrolls, lotus blossoms, chi clouds and lobed cartouches enclosing winged figures, readers, courtiers and fantastic creatures. From a dispersed anthology of major Persian poems, most likely commissioned by Duraq Shah Ustajlu, of the Qizilbash tribal nobility.
See original version (French)
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