QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1275/1857-8 AD

Details

NIZAM AL-MULK (AH 408/1018 AD-AH 485/1092 AD): RISALA SIYAR-I MULUK
QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1275/1857-8 AD
Persian manuscript on cream polished paper, 142ff. with 15ll. of nasta'liq in gold rules, fine opening illuminated headpiece with profuse floral decoration in gold and blue with pink and green, text in clouds in gold ground and illuminated margins, illuminated titles in blue and gold with red nasta'liq, contemporary black morocco binding with stamped and painted floral decoration on gold
Folio 9 7/8 x 6¼in. (25.2 x 15.8cm.)

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Lot Essay

The Siyar al-muluk of Nizam al-Mulk, the celebrated wazir of the Saljuq rulers of Iran Alp Arslan and Malikshah, is a text on government, a rulebook for kings. Also known as the Siyasatnama, it contains fifty chapters of advice and anecdotes.

This scribe of this manuscript, Muhammad Davari (AH 1238-82/1822-65 AD), was son of the famous scribe, Vesal Shirazi. Its patron is named as Muhammad Qulikhan, the Ilkhan of Fars. His recorded work is dated between AH 1262-82 1845-66 AD and is kept in the Gulistan Palace Library and the National Library in Tehran. (Mehdi Bayani: ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol.III, Tehran, 1348 sh., pp.712-6; M.Bamdad: Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, 1700-1900, Tehran, 1966, vol. 3, p.471).

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