Khusraw u Shirin by Nizami (d.1209)

Manuscript; Khusraw u Shirin from a Khamsa (Quintet) by Nizami; text: Persian in black nasta’liq script with illuminated headings; 62 folios with an unwan (F1931.37), 6 paintings (F 1931.31-36), and 1 shamsa (folio 2 recto); 1 colophon (folio 62verso); seals (fols. 32, 34, 40, 45, 54); coat of arms (flyleaf); standard page: 4 columns, 25 lines of text; one of a group of 9: the binding (F 1931.30) and detached folios with paintings (F1931.31-36) are parts of the manuscript accessioned separately.
Binding: The manuscript was originally bound in a lacquer painted covers with scenes of feasting and hunting (F1931.30); the binding has been removed.

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Maker(s)
Calligrapher: Ali ibn Hasan al-Sultani
Historical period(s)
Jalayirid dynasty, ca. 1400
Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 18.3 x 12.7 cm (7 3/16 x 5 in)
Geography
Iran, Tabriz
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1931.29
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript

Keywords
illumination, Iran, Khusraw, nasta'liq script, Shirin, Timurid period (1378 - 1506)
Provenance

To 1931
Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), New York to 1931 [1]

From 1931
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Hagop Kevorkian, New York in 1931 [2]

Notes:

[1] Object file, undated folder sheet note. See also Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Hagop Kevorkian 1872-1962

Description

Manuscript; Khusraw u Shirin from a Khamsa (Quintet) by Nizami; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script with illuminated headings; 62 folios with an unwan (F1931.37), 6 paintings (F 1931.31-36), and 1 shamsa (folio 2 recto); 1 colophon (folio 62verso); seals (fols. 32, 34, 40, 45, 54); coat of arms (flyleaf); standard page: 4 columns, 25 lines of text; one of a group of 9: the binding (F 1931.30) and detached folios with paintings (F1931.31-36) are parts of the manuscript accessioned separately.
Binding: The manuscript was originally bound in a lacquer painted covers with scenes of feasting and hunting (F1931.30); the binding has been removed.

Inscription(s)

Colophon, folio 62 verso [126]: "of the poetry of...Shaykh Awhad al-Din Nizami of Ganja...
Written by the slave who hopes for divine pardon Ali ibn Hasan al-Sultani in...May God disregard his sins, at the capital Tabriz, may God protect them from catastrophe and calamity."

Published References
  • Richard Ettinghausen, Ernst Kuhnel. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. 6 vols., London and New York, 1938 - 1939. vol. 3: pp. 1844, 1852.
  • Freer Gallery of Art. Gallery Book I: Exhibition of May 20, 1935. Washington. .
  • B. W. Robinson. Fifteenth-Century Persian Painting: Problems and Issues. Hagop Kevorkian Series on Near Eastern Art and Civilization New York. p. 4.
  • Fu Shen, Glenn D. Lowry, Ann Yonemura, Thomas Lawton. From Concept to Context: Approaches to Asian and Islamic Calligraphy. Exh. cat. Washington. cat. 45, pp. 104, 128-129.
  • Mehmet Aga-Oglu. The Khusrau wa Shirin Manuscript in the Freer Gallery. vol. IV Ann Arbor. pp. 479-481, fig. 5.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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