Lot 56

FIVE ILLUSTRATED FOLIOS AND AN ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGE FROM THE KHAMSA OF NIZAMI GANJAVI

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THE COLLECTION OF PAUL RICHARD LOEWI (1879-1939) AND HIS DAUGHTER ERICA (1918-1996)

FIVE ILLUSTRATED FOLIOS AND AN ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGE FROM THE KHAMSA OF NIZAMI GANJAVI

PROBABLY SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, CIRCA 1520

Details

FIVE ILLUSTRATED FOLIOS AND AN ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGE FROM THE KHAMSA OF NIZAMI GANJAVI
PROBABLY SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, CIRCA 1520
Four folios from the Haft Paykar and one from Khusraw wa Shirin, together with an illuminated opening folio from Khusraw wa Shirin, the illustrated folios with opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, four columns of black nasta'liq above and below, some with a chapter heading in blue nasta'liq against a floral ground above, the reverse with 14-18ll. black nasta'liq arranged in four columns and occasional chapter headings, set within gold and polychrome rules, three folios with margins cropped; the opening folio a Persian manuscript on paper, gold and polychrome illuminated headpiece surmounting 12ll. black nasta'liq arranged in four columns in clouds reserved against a gold ground, within gold and polychrome rules
Painting 7 1⁄8 x 3 7⁄8in. (18.3 x 9.8cm.); text panel 7 1⁄4 x 4 3⁄8in. (18.4 x 10.9cm.); folio 12 x 7 3⁄4in. (30.5 x 19.7cm.)

Provenance

Folio 1, Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1970, lot 242
Folio 5, Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1970, lot 241

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Barney Bartlett Junior Specialist

bbartlett@christies.com +44 (0) 791 769 5730

Lot Essay

The Khamsa, or quintet, of Nizami, completed in 1202, consists of five long narrative poems: the Makhzan-ol-Asrar; Khusraw wa Shirin; Layla wa Majnun; Iskandarnama; and Haft Peykar. The work was a popular subject for manuscript production and illumination.
This group of folios, though commercial in style, have densely filled scenes full of figures, architecture and lively plants, which B.W. Robinson comments are typical features of the transition from late Turkman to early Safavid painting (Adel Adamova & Manijeh Bayani, Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture, the Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, London, 2015, p.335). For a similar copy of the Khamsa dated 1513, see op.cit., cat.22, pp.335-65. A group of folios from a Khamsa from Shiraz circa 1510 was sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 96.
This group comprises:
1. Bahram Gur in the Red Pavilion with the Slavic Princess, from the Haft Peykar
2. Bahram Gur in the Sandalwood pavilion with the Princess of Khwarazm, from the Haft Peykar
3. Bahram Gur placing the crown between the lions, from the Haft Peykar
4. Fitna carrying the cow on her back before Bahram Gur, from the Haft Peykar
5. Khusraw seated with Shirin, from Khusraw wa Shirin
6. An illuminated opening folio to Khusraw wa Shirin

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