Folio from Yusuf u-Zulaikha by Jami (d.1492); recto: Hares, deer and birds in landscape; verso: Floral scrolls

Detached folio from a dispersed copy of Yusuf -u- Zulaikha by Jami; text: Persian in black nasta’liq script; recto: Hares, deer and birds in landscape, 2 columns, 14 lines; verso: Floral scrolls, 2 columns, 14 lines; one of a group of 13 folios.
Border: The recto is set in gold and black rulings on a paper with birds, hares, deer and landscape motifs, silhouetted against a brown background. The verso is set in gold and black rulings on a paper with floral motifs silhouetted against a brown background.

Maker(s)
Author: Jami (died 1492)
Historical period(s)
Safavid period, 1557
Medium
Ink and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 25.2 x 15 cm (9 15/16 x 5 7/8 in)
Geography
Iran, Qazvin
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1936.9
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript folio

Keywords
flower, illumination, Iran, landscape, Safavid period (1501 - 1722), Yusuf, Zulaykha
Provenance

To 1936
Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York. [1]

From 1936
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Dr. Jacob Hirsch 1874?-1955

Description

Detached folio from a dispersed copy of Yusuf -u- Zulaikha by Jami; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: Hares, deer and birds in landscape, 2 columns, 14 lines; verso: Floral scrolls, 2 columns, 14 lines; one of a group of 13 folios.
Border: The recto is set in gold and black rulings on a paper with birds, hares, deer and landscape motifs, silhouetted against a brown background. The verso is set in gold and black rulings on a paper with floral motifs silhouetted against a brown background.

Label

After the fifteenth century, the favored script for copying poetry in Iran and the rest of the Persian-speaking world, which extended from Mughal India to Ottoman Turkey, was nasta'liq, or the "hanging" script. This elegant cursive writing style is governed by strict rules of proportions that determine the relationship of the vertical and horizontal strokes and the spacing between letters and words. Notable features of nasta'liq are the abrupt change of letters from maximum to minimum width in a single stroke and razor-sharp points.

Each folio is set in carefully illuminated borders, replete with birds and beasts in a landscape setting. These designs, silhouetted against a brown background, further enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of the page--an important requirement of poetic manuscripts.

Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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