SIGNED MUHAMMAD HUSAYN, NORTH INDIA, 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL DECORATED WITH BIRDS
SIGNED MUHAMMAD HUSAYN, NORTH INDIA, 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on paper, with 8ll. of elegant nasta'liq, decorated with six polychrome birds, corners with gold and polychrome illumination, signed katabahau al-'abd al-mudhnib al-faqir al-haqir muhammad husayn al-katib, set within gold and polychrome rules with traces of the original gold illuminated margins, laid down on later paper mount
Calligraphy 8½ x 4in. (21.3 x 10cm.); folio 12 7/8 x 8¾in. (32.6 x 22cm.)

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Lot Essay

Muhammad Husayn al-Katib Kashmiri (d. AH 1020/1611-12 AD), was the most celebrated calligrapher at the court of the emperor Akbar, who gave him the title Zarin Qalam or 'Golden Pen'. He continued to work at the court of Jahangir and his recorded work is dated between AH 988/1580-81 AD and AH 1017/1608-09 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol.III, Tehran, 1348 sh., pp.702-704). Many examples of his work are decorated with small pictures of birds as are found here.

A closely related calligraphic panel from the same original album sold at Sotheby's, 22 April 1980, lot 165. More recently one sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 51. Another is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1993.380).

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