Sa'di, Shaykh Muslih al-Din Shirazi: Gulistan

細節

Sa'di, Shaykh Muslih al-Din Shirazi: Gulistan
Persia, Safavid, late sixteenth century

the famous collection of short stories illustrating the wisdom of Sa'di, manuscript on gold sprinkled buff paper, 44ff. plus two flyleaves, each with 21ll. elegant black nasta'liq within black outlined gold clouds, occasional words in gold, with blue, green, silver and gold margins within black rules, outer blue rule, the margins of various differently coloured paper illuminated in gold with floral motifs, birds, animals and medallions, (trimmed, small smudging, worming and repairs), opening page with fine illuminated heading, f.21v. contains an the outlines for an incompleted contemporary full page miniature, depicting a mounted prince with attendant being waited on by two servant bearing trays with bowls, trees, buildings and further figures visible behind, final page with colophon stating 'copied by Mir 'Imad (obscured word) on the first of Ramadan AH 9??' (before 1590 AD, date obscured), fine Qajar lacquer binding with flowers on a red gold ground within floral border, the black doublures with gold floral designs, (restored)
folio 11¼ x 7¼in. (28.6 x 18.4cm.)
text 8¼ x 4¾in. (21 x 11.5cm.)

拍品專文

The flyleaf at the beginning contains a few entries showing that this manuscript was in the Imperial Mughal Library of India as follows:
1. 'The whole manuscript is in the hand of Imad Khan and is the property of Asad Khan, kept in the custody of Muhafiz Khan', dated 5th Safar of the 15th regnal year [of Shah Jehan], (1643 AD), price Rs.101. 2. It was perused by the Mughal rulers on at least two occasions. The seals of the royal librarians affirming this, stamped above each inscription, have been tampered with.
3. At the end of the text there is the official seal of Shah Najaf 'Ali, a noble under Sultan Muhammad Shah of Delhi (ruled 1719-1748 AD). 4. A number of other ownership seals were on the same page which have since been erased