SIGNED MUHYI, PROBABLY MASHHAD, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED SAFAR AH 974/AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1566 AD

The end of the preface of our manuscript is signed by Muhyi and dated the end of Safar AH 973/ August-September 1565 AD. The calligrapher is most probably Muhyi Haravi, who according to Bayani was a pupil of Qasim Shadishah. Bayani records works signed by him, many of which are simply signed ‘Muhyi’ dated between AH 968 /1561 AD and AH 982/ 1574-75 AD. The Menakib-i Hünerveran of Mustafa ‘Ali, written in AH 995 /1586-87 AD, describes him as ‘the finest calligrapher in Khorassan ’ (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Athar-i Khushnavisan, vols. 3-4, reprint Tehran, 1363 H., sh. (1984), pp. 895-896). Although many illustrations from this manuscript have been dispersed throughout the centuries, this copy still includes 20 illustrations which are a mixture of contemporaneous Safavid and later Qajar additions. For a full list of illustrations please refer to the condition report.

Other leaves from this manuscript sold in these rooms include two folios on 11 October 2005, lot 100-101 and 6 October 2009, lot 144. Further folios sold at Sotheby's, London include 14 October 1999, lot 44; 12 October 2000, lot 61; 3 May 2001, lot 50 and 30 April 2003, lot 30.