.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This very fine Qur'an was copied by an unrecorded scribe called Muhammad ibn Mirak. It is tempting to suppose that he was a son of Aqa Mirak, the famous painter from Isfahan who worked on the Shahnameh that was made in Tabriz for Shah Tahmasp in the 1530s. He may equally be the son of Mirak Heravi, an artist in the service of Sultan Husayn Bayqara.
This is an unusually fine Herati Qur'an, written in elegant naskh. The roundels, marginal illumination and opening bifolio are of the highest quality.
In the colophon the scribe uses an unusual epithet to describe Herat, mihnatabad or the "misery stricken city of Herat". Herat had been fought over throughout the reign of Shah Tahmasp as the Safavids were almost constantly at war with the Uzbeks in the North East of the country. The city had frequently changed hands, as had the city of Mashhad. Herat suffered during these wars which were often accompanied by terrible religious persecution as the Shi'a Safavids and the Sunni Uzbeks settled old scores. For an interesting account of reprisals agains the Shi'a from the ahsanu't tawarikh of Hasan Beg Rumlu written in 985/1577-8 see Browne, E.G. A Literary History of Persia, Vol. IV., pp. 94-5 Camb., 1969.
This is an unusually fine Herati Qur'an, written in elegant naskh. The roundels, marginal illumination and opening bifolio are of the highest quality.
In the colophon the scribe uses an unusual epithet to describe Herat, mihnatabad or the "misery stricken city of Herat". Herat had been fought over throughout the reign of Shah Tahmasp as the Safavids were almost constantly at war with the Uzbeks in the North East of the country. The city had frequently changed hands, as had the city of Mashhad. Herat suffered during these wars which were often accompanied by terrible religious persecution as the Shi'a Safavids and the Sunni Uzbeks settled old scores. For an interesting account of reprisals agains the Shi'a from the ahsanu't tawarikh of Hasan Beg Rumlu written in 985/1577-8 see Browne, E.G. A Literary History of Persia, Vol. IV., pp. 94-5 Camb., 1969.