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Lot Essay
This finely illuminated and illustrated copy of the Khamsa of Nizami is signed and dated in the final colophon by Sayyidi 'Ali Al-Mudhahhib. The scribe appears to be otherwise unrecorded but the epithet mudhahhib ('the illuminator' or 'the gilder') suggests that he worked as both the scribe and the illuminator. In addition to his clear aptitude as a calligrapher, Sayyidi 'Ali's expertise as an illuminator is evidenced throughout the manuscript. The opening double-page frontispiece and subsequent book headings are finely executed with extensive use of gold, which has been confidently applied.
Our Khamsa can be closely compared to a near contemporaraneous Khamsa in the Al Sabah collection (LNS 28 Ms) copied by Na'im al-Din al-Katib in AH 893⁄1487-88 AD in Shiraz (LNS 28 Ms; Adel T. Adamova and Manijeh Bayani, Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture, London, 2015, cat.21, pp. 294-329). The text is very similar both with regards to the illumination in the headpieces but also the minor illumination surrounding the headings and in the panels flanking the colophons. However, the close parallels between the illustrations are also particularly striking. Many of the scenes featuring in both manuscripts are compositionally near identical and where the scenes differ, either in choice or composition, familiar characters and motifs remain. However, our Khamsa is also notable for the inclusion of some lesser illustrated scenes. From the Haft Paykar we see a rarely found illustration of a king embracing a peri from the story told to Bahram Gur by the Indian Princess. Later from the same book is an illustration of Bahram Gur listening to the shepherd's complaint about his dog's betrayal which is not commonly found in other copies of the text.
The close parallels between our manuscript and others of the same period are representative of the sophisticated workshop system in Shiraz for commercial luxury manuscripts in the second half of the 15th century. Visual similarities can be easily found between the illustrations of our manuscript and those from important other texts. The illustrations to the Khavarnama of ibn Husam al-Din from Shiraz, circa 1476-86 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art deserve special mention in this regard and there is a particular similarity between the boat illustrated in the painting of Amr having the infidels thrown into the sea (55.125.1) and our painting of Iskandar at sea. They are nearly identical with their horse-head bow and billowing sail decorated with split palmette arabesques.
Closely related illumination and illustration can also be found in a copy of the Mihr o Mushtari of Muhammad 'Assar Tabrizi dated AH 895⁄1490 AD sold in these rooms, 1 May 2025, lot 37. The enthroned rulers are very similar in both manuscripts in physical appearance, dress and pose. Given the similar dates of production and the visual similarities both manuscripts may even originate from the same workshop.
The extensive notes and seal impressions in the opening folios provide helpful information about the ownership history of the manuscript. Our manuscript made its way to India like many other important known examples from Turkman Shiraz (for example the aforementioned Al Sabah collection LNS 28Ms and lot 24 from this sale) and was possibly made for export (B.W. Robinson, "Painter-Illuminators of sixteenth century Shiraz", Iran, 17, 1979, p.105). The manuscript was acquired in Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1715 by a certain Nur Khan. There are further seal impressions of one Muhammad bin Muhammad and 'Ali Asghar Khan bin Muhibbullah Khan, possibly dating from the reign of Muhammad Shah (r.1702-48).
By AH 1237⁄1821-2 AD the manuscript bears the seals of the Nawab Nazir (chief eunuch) Sayyidi Darab 'Ali Khan. Darab 'Ali Khan served as Nawab Nazir for four Nizams and was a major political influence in late 18th and 19th century Murshidabad. He was an active architectural patron and a known collector of manuscripts (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol.XXXVI, part.I, No.II - 1867, Calcutta, 1867, p.12). There are at least three seal impressions belonging to Sayyidi Darab 'Ali Khan until AH 1240⁄1824-25 AD but an inspection note dated to AH 1246⁄1830-31 AD on the verso of the colophon page may also belong to the Nawab Nazir who was still alive at this time. It seems likely that the manuscript then passed into the collection of the Nawabs of Murshidabad following Darab 'Ali Khan's death as he had no children to inherit his library.
Our Khamsa can be closely compared to a near contemporaraneous Khamsa in the Al Sabah collection (LNS 28 Ms) copied by Na'im al-Din al-Katib in AH 893⁄1487-88 AD in Shiraz (LNS 28 Ms; Adel T. Adamova and Manijeh Bayani, Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture, London, 2015, cat.21, pp. 294-329). The text is very similar both with regards to the illumination in the headpieces but also the minor illumination surrounding the headings and in the panels flanking the colophons. However, the close parallels between the illustrations are also particularly striking. Many of the scenes featuring in both manuscripts are compositionally near identical and where the scenes differ, either in choice or composition, familiar characters and motifs remain. However, our Khamsa is also notable for the inclusion of some lesser illustrated scenes. From the Haft Paykar we see a rarely found illustration of a king embracing a peri from the story told to Bahram Gur by the Indian Princess. Later from the same book is an illustration of Bahram Gur listening to the shepherd's complaint about his dog's betrayal which is not commonly found in other copies of the text.
The close parallels between our manuscript and others of the same period are representative of the sophisticated workshop system in Shiraz for commercial luxury manuscripts in the second half of the 15th century. Visual similarities can be easily found between the illustrations of our manuscript and those from important other texts. The illustrations to the Khavarnama of ibn Husam al-Din from Shiraz, circa 1476-86 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art deserve special mention in this regard and there is a particular similarity between the boat illustrated in the painting of Amr having the infidels thrown into the sea (55.125.1) and our painting of Iskandar at sea. They are nearly identical with their horse-head bow and billowing sail decorated with split palmette arabesques.
Closely related illumination and illustration can also be found in a copy of the Mihr o Mushtari of Muhammad 'Assar Tabrizi dated AH 895⁄1490 AD sold in these rooms, 1 May 2025, lot 37. The enthroned rulers are very similar in both manuscripts in physical appearance, dress and pose. Given the similar dates of production and the visual similarities both manuscripts may even originate from the same workshop.
The extensive notes and seal impressions in the opening folios provide helpful information about the ownership history of the manuscript. Our manuscript made its way to India like many other important known examples from Turkman Shiraz (for example the aforementioned Al Sabah collection LNS 28Ms and lot 24 from this sale) and was possibly made for export (B.W. Robinson, "Painter-Illuminators of sixteenth century Shiraz", Iran, 17, 1979, p.105). The manuscript was acquired in Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1715 by a certain Nur Khan. There are further seal impressions of one Muhammad bin Muhammad and 'Ali Asghar Khan bin Muhibbullah Khan, possibly dating from the reign of Muhammad Shah (r.1702-48).
By AH 1237⁄1821-2 AD the manuscript bears the seals of the Nawab Nazir (chief eunuch) Sayyidi Darab 'Ali Khan. Darab 'Ali Khan served as Nawab Nazir for four Nizams and was a major political influence in late 18th and 19th century Murshidabad. He was an active architectural patron and a known collector of manuscripts (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol.XXXVI, part.I, No.II - 1867, Calcutta, 1867, p.12). There are at least three seal impressions belonging to Sayyidi Darab 'Ali Khan until AH 1240⁄1824-25 AD but an inspection note dated to AH 1246⁄1830-31 AD on the verso of the colophon page may also belong to the Nawab Nazir who was still alive at this time. It seems likely that the manuscript then passed into the collection of the Nawabs of Murshidabad following Darab 'Ali Khan's death as he had no children to inherit his library.