Lot Essay
This folio and those of the following lot come from a manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library, (Mughal mss.20), a virtually complete copy of Jami's Khamseh or Panj Ganj comprising 177ff. The Chester Beatty manuscript is dated 15 Dhu'l-Hijja AH 926/20 August 1520 AD (f.46r.) and is signed by Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi (f.145r.). The folios have the same margins and series of small illuminated triangular panels depicting birds, animals and human figures.
An inscription in Jahangir's hand on what seems to be the original opening flyleaf states that the manuscript was written by 'Ali al-Mashhadi for Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (the son of Sultan Husain and the last Timurid in Iran, d.1517 AD) and that it entered the library of Shah Isma'il Safavi (d.1524 AD) as a present from Mirza 'Ali Beg Amir Muhammad ?Baranduq Barlas in the vicinity of the Shaikh Jam minaret (in present day Afghanistan). Mirza 'Ali Beg's father, Muhammad Baranduq, is mentioned in the Baburnameh as one of the leading amirs of Sultan Husain Mirza (AH 842-912/1438-1506 AD) among whose artists Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi is mentioned. (See: Beveridge,A.S.: The Baburnameh in English, London 1969, pp.270 and 291-3)
The margins appear to be later, although it can be seen from the verso of the present folio that the original margins were similar in style.
No folios are known with full page miniatures as in the present two lots, but one of the triangular panels showing the figure of a man is signed by Mushfiq and dated.
The painter, Mushfiq, is known to have worked in the late 16th and early 17th century in the library of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan Khanan (1556-1627 AD), one of the most powerful Mughal nobles of his time, who was educated at Akbar's court following the murder of his father. Mushfiq appears to have been the most sophisticated of Khan Khanan's artists (who included Fazl, Nadim, Mohan, Yusuf 'Ali, Qasim and Kamal), and contemporary sources indicate that, though highly regarded enough to have worked in Akbar's royal atelier, he spent the majority of his career in the private library, still working there in 1617.
The illustration round the colophon in this lot is very unusual in that it shows not only the scribe but also the titles of books in his possesion.
Only two other signed works of his are known. One is a painting of a muse in the British Museum (1947-10-11-02) and the other is an illustration from a Khamseh dated 1610 in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Or.fol.1278) which more resembles the present pair and has similar borders. Two other miniatures are strongly attributable to him; a painting from a Ramayana commissioned by Khan Khanan begun in AH 996 in the Freer Gallery (cat.no.15); and a painting from a Razamnameh in the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. Though Mushfiq worked in a 'sub-imperial' library his style strongly reflects the Akbari tastes of his patron.
The calligrapher Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi worked in Herat in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century and was one of the most celebrated calligraphers of his time, renowned as much for his entertaining and social standing as his calligraphy. He championed the form of nasta'liq known as 'eastern' which supplanted the 'western' form in the sixteenth century.
F1. of the Chester Beatty manuscript has the impression of Shah Jehan's seal dated AH 1037/1627-8 AD and also that of Aurangzeb date AH 1070/1659-60 AD. A further inscription is in Jahangir's own hand dating from his 20th regnal year gives the early history of the manuscript (as noted above) and states that Jahangir received it in Kashmir from 'Abd al-Rahim (Khan Khanan) in AH 1034/1624-5 AD.
This was a few years before the death of Khan Khanan when he had been sent to the Deccan with Prince Khurram (later Shah Jehan) to supervise the Prince's rebellion against his father. However Jahangir suspected Khan Khanan of treachery and it is possible that the Khan, hearing of this, sent the Khamseh to Jahangir in Kashmir to placate him.
There are also several royal Mughal librarian seal impressions and inscriptions on the verso of the present leaf. The earliest of these is that of Shah Jehan dated Dhu'l-Qa'da of his 14th regnal year (c. 1641 AD).
Another manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library dated AH 894/1488 AD is similar in style to the present, in that it has similar illuminated triangular panels. This was copied by Shaikh Muhammad al-Imami, a disciple and contemporary of al-Mashhadi. (See: Arberry,A.J.: op.cit., vol.II, no.167, pp.24-5, pls 11-13)
A bifolio from the same manuscript is published in Zaky, M. Hasan: Moslem Art in The Fouad I University Museum, Cairo 1950, vol.I, Inv.no.1743
We are extremely grateful to Robert Skelton for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
An inscription in Jahangir's hand on what seems to be the original opening flyleaf states that the manuscript was written by 'Ali al-Mashhadi for Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (the son of Sultan Husain and the last Timurid in Iran, d.1517 AD) and that it entered the library of Shah Isma'il Safavi (d.1524 AD) as a present from Mirza 'Ali Beg Amir Muhammad ?Baranduq Barlas in the vicinity of the Shaikh Jam minaret (in present day Afghanistan). Mirza 'Ali Beg's father, Muhammad Baranduq, is mentioned in the Baburnameh as one of the leading amirs of Sultan Husain Mirza (AH 842-912/1438-1506 AD) among whose artists Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi is mentioned. (See: Beveridge,A.S.: The Baburnameh in English, London 1969, pp.270 and 291-3)
The margins appear to be later, although it can be seen from the verso of the present folio that the original margins were similar in style.
No folios are known with full page miniatures as in the present two lots, but one of the triangular panels showing the figure of a man is signed by Mushfiq and dated.
The painter, Mushfiq, is known to have worked in the late 16th and early 17th century in the library of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan Khanan (1556-1627 AD), one of the most powerful Mughal nobles of his time, who was educated at Akbar's court following the murder of his father. Mushfiq appears to have been the most sophisticated of Khan Khanan's artists (who included Fazl, Nadim, Mohan, Yusuf 'Ali, Qasim and Kamal), and contemporary sources indicate that, though highly regarded enough to have worked in Akbar's royal atelier, he spent the majority of his career in the private library, still working there in 1617.
The illustration round the colophon in this lot is very unusual in that it shows not only the scribe but also the titles of books in his possesion.
Only two other signed works of his are known. One is a painting of a muse in the British Museum (1947-10-11-02) and the other is an illustration from a Khamseh dated 1610 in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Or.fol.1278) which more resembles the present pair and has similar borders. Two other miniatures are strongly attributable to him; a painting from a Ramayana commissioned by Khan Khanan begun in AH 996 in the Freer Gallery (cat.no.15); and a painting from a Razamnameh in the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. Though Mushfiq worked in a 'sub-imperial' library his style strongly reflects the Akbari tastes of his patron.
The calligrapher Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi worked in Herat in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century and was one of the most celebrated calligraphers of his time, renowned as much for his entertaining and social standing as his calligraphy. He championed the form of nasta'liq known as 'eastern' which supplanted the 'western' form in the sixteenth century.
F1. of the Chester Beatty manuscript has the impression of Shah Jehan's seal dated AH 1037/1627-8 AD and also that of Aurangzeb date AH 1070/1659-60 AD. A further inscription is in Jahangir's own hand dating from his 20th regnal year gives the early history of the manuscript (as noted above) and states that Jahangir received it in Kashmir from 'Abd al-Rahim (Khan Khanan) in AH 1034/1624-5 AD.
This was a few years before the death of Khan Khanan when he had been sent to the Deccan with Prince Khurram (later Shah Jehan) to supervise the Prince's rebellion against his father. However Jahangir suspected Khan Khanan of treachery and it is possible that the Khan, hearing of this, sent the Khamseh to Jahangir in Kashmir to placate him.
There are also several royal Mughal librarian seal impressions and inscriptions on the verso of the present leaf. The earliest of these is that of Shah Jehan dated Dhu'l-Qa'da of his 14th regnal year (c. 1641 AD).
Another manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library dated AH 894/1488 AD is similar in style to the present, in that it has similar illuminated triangular panels. This was copied by Shaikh Muhammad al-Imami, a disciple and contemporary of al-Mashhadi. (See: Arberry,A.J.: op.cit., vol.II, no.167, pp.24-5, pls 11-13)
A bifolio from the same manuscript is published in Zaky, M. Hasan: Moslem Art in The Fouad I University Museum, Cairo 1950, vol.I, Inv.no.1743
We are extremely grateful to Robert Skelton for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.