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ABU'L TAHIR MUHAMMAD BIN YAQUB AL-FIRUZABADI (D.AH 817/1415 AD): AL-QAMUS AL-MUHIT

OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1550

Details

ABU'L TAHIR MUHAMMAD BIN YAQUB AL-FIRUZABADI (D.AH 817/1415 AD): AL-QAMUS AL-MUHIT
OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1550
On Arabic language, Arabic manuscript on cream paper, 431ff. plus 2 later fly-leaves, each with 35ll. of neat black naskh, significant works and headings picked out in larger thuluth in red or black, opening bifolio with significant words picked out in gold, text divided by gold roundels, thin margins ruled in blue and gold and one finely illuminated headpiece in polychrome and gold, slight waterstaining and repairs mostly restricted to the margins, later red morocco binding with stamped gilt central medallion and cornerpieces containing scrolling arabesque motifs, leather gilt-stamped doublures added later
Text 8¼ x 5in. (21 x 12.8cm.); folio 11½ x 7 5/8in. (29 x 19.4cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale, Sotheby's London 26th April 1995, lot 52

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Lot Essay

Written whilst the author was living in Mecca between 1368 and 1392, Firuzabadi's Qamus al-Muhit is one of the central reference works on Arabic language. Many commentaries have been written on it, and in Europe the Thesaurus linguae Arabicae by A. Giggeius, printed in Milan in 1632, was based on it.

The provenance of this manuscript is particularly interesting. The first ownership inscription belongs to Yahya bin Muhammad al-Mala', and is dated AH 986/1578 AD, giving us a terminus date for the completion of the manuscript. Also of interest are fourteen seal impressions, dated AH [10]72/1661-2 AD, which bear the name of the mother of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV (reigned 1648-87).

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