.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The paintings in this manuscript include:
1. Majnun visits Layla
2. Nawfal fights Layla's tribe to win her hand for Majnun
3. An old man sent by Layla visits Majnun on the rocks
4. Bahram Gur enthroned with the two defeated lions in front of him
5. Bahram Gur in the black pavilion
6. Bahram Gur in the green pavilion
7. Bahram Gur in the turquoise pavilion
8. Bahram Gur in the sandalwood pavilion
The scribe of our manuscript, Muhammad bin Mulla Mir al-Husayni al-Ustadi is recorded by Bayani as the scribe of various manuscripts, including another copy of Nizami's Khamsa in the Gulestan Palace Library, which was written between 1602 and 1628-29. His known work is dated between 1581 and 1629, and includes a Shahnama in the Metropolitan Museum of Art dated 1607 (13.228, Cochran MS 3) and another Shahnama in the Walters Art Gallery (Ms.10.602) (Barbara Schmitz, Miniature Painting in Herat, 1570-1640, PhD thesis, New York University, 1981, pp.339-360.
The name Din Muhammad Sultan appears three times in our manuscript - once at the end of each chapter and a third in a seal at the end of the Haft Paykar where his name is given as 'Din Muhammad Sultan bin Jani Sultan'. The seal is dated AH 999/1590-91 AD. Din Muhammad Sultan was the son of Jani Beg Sultan, the Khan of Astrakhan who had been ousted by Ivan the Terrible in 1556. He and his brothers played an important role in the Uzbek invasions of Iran in the years 1558-1598 and since he was a Chingizid descendant, he was proclaimed Khan in Herat. He was killed fleeing from the army of Shah 'Abbas in 1598 (History of Civilisations of Central Asia, Unesco, 2003, p.45).
An illustrated copy of Jami’s Yusuf wa Zulaykha dated to the equivalent of 1595 and attributed by B. W. Robinson to Bukhara illustrates the relative sophistication of our manuscript (B.W. Robinson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1958, plate XXV). The tall slender figures found in our manuscript are definitely reminiscent of earlier 16th century portraits from Bukhara. The sophisticated architectural backgrounds, noticeably in the pavilions depicted in the story of Bahram Gur indicate however the more refined influence of Herat.
1. Majnun visits Layla
2. Nawfal fights Layla's tribe to win her hand for Majnun
3. An old man sent by Layla visits Majnun on the rocks
4. Bahram Gur enthroned with the two defeated lions in front of him
5. Bahram Gur in the black pavilion
6. Bahram Gur in the green pavilion
7. Bahram Gur in the turquoise pavilion
8. Bahram Gur in the sandalwood pavilion
The scribe of our manuscript, Muhammad bin Mulla Mir al-Husayni al-Ustadi is recorded by Bayani as the scribe of various manuscripts, including another copy of Nizami's Khamsa in the Gulestan Palace Library, which was written between 1602 and 1628-29. His known work is dated between 1581 and 1629, and includes a Shahnama in the Metropolitan Museum of Art dated 1607 (13.228, Cochran MS 3) and another Shahnama in the Walters Art Gallery (Ms.10.602) (Barbara Schmitz, Miniature Painting in Herat, 1570-1640, PhD thesis, New York University, 1981, pp.339-360.
The name Din Muhammad Sultan appears three times in our manuscript - once at the end of each chapter and a third in a seal at the end of the Haft Paykar where his name is given as 'Din Muhammad Sultan bin Jani Sultan'. The seal is dated AH 999/1590-91 AD. Din Muhammad Sultan was the son of Jani Beg Sultan, the Khan of Astrakhan who had been ousted by Ivan the Terrible in 1556. He and his brothers played an important role in the Uzbek invasions of Iran in the years 1558-1598 and since he was a Chingizid descendant, he was proclaimed Khan in Herat. He was killed fleeing from the army of Shah 'Abbas in 1598 (History of Civilisations of Central Asia, Unesco, 2003, p.45).
An illustrated copy of Jami’s Yusuf wa Zulaykha dated to the equivalent of 1595 and attributed by B. W. Robinson to Bukhara illustrates the relative sophistication of our manuscript (B.W. Robinson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1958, plate XXV). The tall slender figures found in our manuscript are definitely reminiscent of earlier 16th century portraits from Bukhara. The sophisticated architectural backgrounds, noticeably in the pavilions depicted in the story of Bahram Gur indicate however the more refined influence of Herat.