A DÉCOUPÉ NASTA'LIQ QUATRAIN

SIGNED MIR 'ALI, SAFAVID IRAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY

Details

A DÉCOUPÉ NASTA'LIQ QUATRAIN
SIGNED MIR 'ALI, SAFAVID IRAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on blue paper, with 4ll. of nasta'liq elegantly cut out and laid down, the signature in smaller similar nasta'liq in the lower left hand corner, a panel of gold and polychrome illumination in the upper right hand corner, the ground with a landscape scene picked out in gold and silver, laid down with polychrome rules and a pink minor border on wide gold speckled margins, mounted, framed and glazed
Panel 7½ x 4 5/8in. (19.2 x 11.9cm.); folio 11¼ x 7¾in. (28.6 x 19.6cm.)

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Lot Essay

Mir 'Ali is often mentioned by Safavid sources as among the most important nasta'liq calligraphers of all time. Various authorities attribute the codifying of the aesthetic rules of nasta'liq script to him. Born in Herat circa 1476, he was later taken to Bukhara by the Shaybanid ruler 'Ubaydullah Khan after his capture of Herat in AH 935/1528-29 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, vol. II, Tehran 1346 sh., p.494). His recorded works are dated between AH 914/1508-09 AD and AH 951/1544-45 AD. A similar nasta'liq quatrain, signed by 'Imad al-Hasani but similarly executed in découpé sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 49.

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