ONE SIGNED BY SULTAN 'ALI [MASHHADI], TIMURID HERAT, DATED AH 906/1500-01 AD

Details

TWO CALLIGRAPHIC PANELS
ONE SIGNED BY SULTAN 'ALI [MASHHADI], TIMURID HERAT, DATED AH 906/1500-01 AD
Gouache heightened with gold on paper, the left hand panel with four nasta'liq couplets signed and dated in the lower left-hand corner, the right hand panel with a nasta'liq quatrain with a later attribution to Sultan 'Ali, both on gold speckled ground with later added scrolling floral borders and gold and polychrome illuminated margins, folios joined with a later cloth spine
Left hand panel 5 x 1½in. (12.5 x 3.8cm.); right panel 7 x 3½in. (17.8 x 9.5cm.); each folio 12 1/8 x 7 7/8in. (30.7 x 20cm.)

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Lot Essay

Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi was born around the year 1437-38 AD. He was considered first among equals by calligraphers of the period. In his famous treatise Qadi Ahmad describes Sultan 'Ali's writing among other writings as the sun among other planets. He was active at the court of Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara in Herat. Following the invasion of Herat, he returned to his hometown Mashhad where he died on 10 Rabi' I AH 926/2 March 1520 AD. (V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters, A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, son of Mir Munshi, Washington, 1959, pp. 101-103). His numerous recorded works include inscriptions in Herat and are dated between AH 849/1444-45 AD and AH 923/1517-18 AD.

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