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Lot Essay
This manuscript was commissioned by a royal patron whose name was later replaced by 'Bahadur Sultan'. It was copied by Sultan Bayazid al-Harawi, also known by his pen-name, Dawri. Sultan Bayazid was from Herat and was a pupil of Mir 'Ali. He moved to the Mughal court and became one of Akbar's court poets. There he received the title Katib al-Mulk from the Emperor. Towards the end of his life he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. He drowned in AH 987 (1579-80 AD). His latest work, dated AH 985 (1578-79 AD) was copied in Mecca (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, Vol. I, Tehran 1345 sh, pp. 95-6 and The Tabaqat i-akbari, Vol. II, Calcutta 1936, p. 723).
Amongst the interesting features of the present manuscript are the borders decorated in what is known as the akkase technique. This is either done with zinc stencils or by creating several imprints on the same base (the script, for instance, is written using a fluid prepared with gum-arabic or similar material. Once dry another design, using darker colours is applied to the same paper. The parts covered with the gum resist the second coat and reveal the design). Another border, similarly decorated, is in the Topkapi Saray Museum (Topkapi Versailles, Trésors de la Cour Ottomane, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, no. 148, p. 192). A further three are published in Trkische Kunst und Kultur aus Osmanischer Zeit (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1985, kat. nr. 1/108 and 1/104, pp.43 and 118) where they are referred to a 'silhouettenpapier' (silhouette paper).
Amongst the interesting features of the present manuscript are the borders decorated in what is known as the akkase technique. This is either done with zinc stencils or by creating several imprints on the same base (the script, for instance, is written using a fluid prepared with gum-arabic or similar material. Once dry another design, using darker colours is applied to the same paper. The parts covered with the gum resist the second coat and reveal the design). Another border, similarly decorated, is in the Topkapi Saray Museum (Topkapi Versailles, Trésors de la Cour Ottomane, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, no. 148, p. 192). A further three are published in Trkische Kunst und Kultur aus Osmanischer Zeit (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1985, kat. nr. 1/108 and 1/104, pp.43 and 118) where they are referred to a 'silhouettenpapier' (silhouette paper).