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Lot Essay
Manuscript production in Transoxiana was given an important impetus in the early 16th century when Shaybani Khan during his occupation of Herat, came into contact with the royal library of Sultan Husayn. His nephew, Obeydollah Khan forcibly took the calligrapher Mir 'Ali of Herat with him to Bokhara in 1529, where Mir 'Ali remained until his death, generally accepted to be in around the year AH 951/1544-5 AD. This must be the last manuscript which he completed. A page of the Gulshan manuscript in the Gulistan library is dated 951/1544 and is considered by Bayani as his last dated piece. Among his recorded work is an undated copy of the Bustan of Sa'di which he had copied for 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan, the son of Obeydollah Khan who ruled between AH 947-57/1540-50 AD. (Soudavar,A.: Art of the Persian Courts, New York, 1992, p.205. cat.nos. 79, 128a)
Based on this information, it is suggested that the patron for whom this manuscript was completed was also 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan and that this is the erased name in the colophon.
This manuscript was evidently transfered from Bokhara to India at some point in its history. It was remargined and rebound, probably early in the seventeenth century and retains its original lacquer binding. The lively and unusual borders with their bold designs on strongly contrasting coloured paper relate this volume to the Chester Beatty's manuscript of Panj Ganj of Jami copied by Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi and presented to Shah Isma'il Safavi in 929/1522-3. The Panj Ganj manuscript passed into the library of 'Abd al-Rahim, the Khan-i Khanan of the Mughal Emperor Akbar before 1603 where it was embellished with tiny miniatures by Mushfiq. By 1624 according to an inscription by the Emperor Jahangir it had entered the Imperial Mughal Library. 'Abd al-Rahim maintained a considerable library and by the time he achieved his full military status this library was renowned across the empire. For much of the early 17th century he was based in the Deccan and it seems likely that his library was there too. The spectacular borders of the Panj Ganj are considered the work of 'Abd al-Rahim's studio in the Deccan some time before 1624. The borders of the Mantiq al-Tayir are very similar to those of the Panj Ganj and must have been carried out at the same time.
The borders of both manuscripts are produced by stencils, with images repeated several times, but this method of reproducing the designs does not result in a stilted or mechanical appearance; rather the designs are full of spontaneity and wit. In some areas the designs are pencilled in but unfinished, particularly in the opening folios. (Leach,L.Y.: Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Volume II, London, 1995, pp. 567-578).
The border designs encompass a wide variety of animals, real and mythical, such as snow leopards, qilins and deer as well as a huge variety of birds, appropriate to the subject matter of the text, pheasants, cranes, swallows, parakeets and, of course, the sinmurgh and hoopoe. There is a strong chioiserie feel with ducks and other wading birds among water lilies, but pairs of tigers which frequently appear in these borders hint at the Indian nature of the artist. Occasionally an image is also to be found in the Panj Ganj mansucript, such as a bird catching an insect in its mouth (Leach, op.cit.p.575).
The binding is an important and rare example of early 17th century Indian lacquer. It is probably the original made at the same time as the borders were added to the manuscript, i.e. some time between 1603 and 1624. It features two interwoven lattices, one curvilinear, the other formed of arches linked by florets with straight elements. It resembles some pashmina lattice carpets with a pattern of lattice and blossoms from Kashmir or Lahore and usually dated circa 1650. (Walker, D: Flowers underfoot, Indian carpets of the Mughal era, New York, 1997, figs. 112, 113). The design is on a gold-glitter ground, perhaps of Persian inspiration. The doublures are also of interest with a clump of purple-headed irises again on a gold-glitter ground, with butterflies playing amongst the blooms. Jahangir visited Kashmir in spring 1620 and was bewitched by the flowers. His court painter Mansur made more than one hundred studies of flowers as a result, of which only three are known to survive. One is a study of an iris now in the Golestan Palace in Tehran. Irises were often incorporated into border illumination in the margins of album pages. and single studies such as this may have been inspired by European herbals.(Walker, op.cit., pp.86-7).
Based on this information, it is suggested that the patron for whom this manuscript was completed was also 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan and that this is the erased name in the colophon.
This manuscript was evidently transfered from Bokhara to India at some point in its history. It was remargined and rebound, probably early in the seventeenth century and retains its original lacquer binding. The lively and unusual borders with their bold designs on strongly contrasting coloured paper relate this volume to the Chester Beatty's manuscript of Panj Ganj of Jami copied by Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi and presented to Shah Isma'il Safavi in 929/1522-3. The Panj Ganj manuscript passed into the library of 'Abd al-Rahim, the Khan-i Khanan of the Mughal Emperor Akbar before 1603 where it was embellished with tiny miniatures by Mushfiq. By 1624 according to an inscription by the Emperor Jahangir it had entered the Imperial Mughal Library. 'Abd al-Rahim maintained a considerable library and by the time he achieved his full military status this library was renowned across the empire. For much of the early 17th century he was based in the Deccan and it seems likely that his library was there too. The spectacular borders of the Panj Ganj are considered the work of 'Abd al-Rahim's studio in the Deccan some time before 1624. The borders of the Mantiq al-Tayir are very similar to those of the Panj Ganj and must have been carried out at the same time.
The borders of both manuscripts are produced by stencils, with images repeated several times, but this method of reproducing the designs does not result in a stilted or mechanical appearance; rather the designs are full of spontaneity and wit. In some areas the designs are pencilled in but unfinished, particularly in the opening folios. (Leach,L.Y.: Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Volume II, London, 1995, pp. 567-578).
The border designs encompass a wide variety of animals, real and mythical, such as snow leopards, qilins and deer as well as a huge variety of birds, appropriate to the subject matter of the text, pheasants, cranes, swallows, parakeets and, of course, the sinmurgh and hoopoe. There is a strong chioiserie feel with ducks and other wading birds among water lilies, but pairs of tigers which frequently appear in these borders hint at the Indian nature of the artist. Occasionally an image is also to be found in the Panj Ganj mansucript, such as a bird catching an insect in its mouth (Leach, op.cit.p.575).
The binding is an important and rare example of early 17th century Indian lacquer. It is probably the original made at the same time as the borders were added to the manuscript, i.e. some time between 1603 and 1624. It features two interwoven lattices, one curvilinear, the other formed of arches linked by florets with straight elements. It resembles some pashmina lattice carpets with a pattern of lattice and blossoms from Kashmir or Lahore and usually dated circa 1650. (Walker, D: Flowers underfoot, Indian carpets of the Mughal era, New York, 1997, figs. 112, 113). The design is on a gold-glitter ground, perhaps of Persian inspiration. The doublures are also of interest with a clump of purple-headed irises again on a gold-glitter ground, with butterflies playing amongst the blooms. Jahangir visited Kashmir in spring 1620 and was bewitched by the flowers. His court painter Mansur made more than one hundred studies of flowers as a result, of which only three are known to survive. One is a study of an iris now in the Golestan Palace in Tehran. Irises were often incorporated into border illumination in the margins of album pages. and single studies such as this may have been inspired by European herbals.(Walker, op.cit., pp.86-7).