TIMURID IRAN, 15TH CENTURY

Details

A SECTION FROM A POETRY ANTHOLOGY ON CHINESE PAPER
TIMURID IRAN, 15TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on very fine coloured gold-speckled Chinese paper with gold vegetal and architectural designs, 34+2+2ff. with 13ll. of fine black nasta'liq in two columns, a third column written diagonally, within gold rules, titles in gold thuluth reserved in clouds against gold and red hatching, small triangular panels in the corners with vegetal arabesques in gold and orange, f.1r. with note added later, f.1v. with illuminated headpiece added later, text on f34v. erased, associated black morocco binding with flap, the exterior with stamped and tooled gilded medallions, the doublures with large decoupé medallions of mythical beasts, some pages creased, possibly misbound
Folio 5 5/8 x 8 5/8in. (14.5 x11.5cm.)

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Lot Essay

Increased diplomatic exchange between the Timurid and Ming courts after about 1424 led to a fashion for using Chinese papers in Timurid manuscripts, especially fancy coloured papers decorated with gold sprinkling. A range of colours including blues, pinks, lavenders, yellows and greens became available, and used mostly, as in this case, in poetry manuscripts. The paper used for this manuscript is noticeably heavy and highly polished. Some pages are decorated with characteristically Chinese motifs such as naturalistic details of plants, one page bearing an image of a pagoda.

Two manuscripts on Chinese coloured paper from the Turk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul are published in David J. Roxburgh, Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, Exh. cat., London, 2005, nos. 178-9, pp.228-9 and 421.

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