.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
INSCRIPTIONS:
Two couplets from a ghazal of Qasim-i Anwar
The calligraphy on this fine album page is the work of the preeminent calligrapher Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi (fl.1453-1519), who was born in Mashhad around 1437. Qadi Ahmad in his famous treatise describes his writing among other writings as the sun among other planets (V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters. A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, son of Mir Munshi, Washington, 1959, pp.101-3). Sultan ‘Ali was the favourite court calligrapher of Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara (r.1569-1506) and was acquainted with both Amir ‘Ali-Shir Nava’i and ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami. His works include some of the finest Persian and Turkish manuscripts composed for the Timurid court, such as a copy of ‘Attar’s Mantiq al-Tayar or ‘Conference of the Birds’ now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (MS.63.210). Based on the dates of the earliest manuscripts he wrote in Herat, it appears that Sultan ‘Ali immigrated there sometime before the onset of the sultanate of Sultan Husayn and remained there until his return to Mashhad in 1506.
Two couplets from a ghazal of Qasim-i Anwar
The calligraphy on this fine album page is the work of the preeminent calligrapher Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi (fl.1453-1519), who was born in Mashhad around 1437. Qadi Ahmad in his famous treatise describes his writing among other writings as the sun among other planets (V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters. A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, son of Mir Munshi, Washington, 1959, pp.101-3). Sultan ‘Ali was the favourite court calligrapher of Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara (r.1569-1506) and was acquainted with both Amir ‘Ali-Shir Nava’i and ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami. His works include some of the finest Persian and Turkish manuscripts composed for the Timurid court, such as a copy of ‘Attar’s Mantiq al-Tayar or ‘Conference of the Birds’ now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (MS.63.210). Based on the dates of the earliest manuscripts he wrote in Herat, it appears that Sultan ‘Ali immigrated there sometime before the onset of the sultanate of Sultan Husayn and remained there until his return to Mashhad in 1506.