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Lot Essay
The album is composed of the following:
1. A folio with an inscription in the cartouche stating that this is the hand of Muhammad Shah Qajar. The colophon mentions that the folio was copied for Khadija Sultan Khanum, the mother of Na'ib al-Saltana (i.e. Prince Nasir al-Din) on 7 Shawwal AD 1264/6 September 1848 AD.
2. A hadith of Imam 'Ali copied for the Na'ib al-Saltana by Abu'l Fazl, son of Fazlullah Savaji in Rabi' al-Thani AH 1264/March-April 1848 AD. Abu'l Fazl Savaji (AH 1248-1312/1832-95 AD) is a well-known scholar and calligrapher of the Qajar period who wrote the inscriptions of many buildings. His recorded works are dated between AH 1261/1845-46 AD and AH 1286/1869-70 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. I, Teheran 1345 sh, pp. 29-32).
3-6. Persian verses in large nasta'liq, each signed by Fath 'Ali Shah. A double album page in the Aga Khan Collection also features a calligraphic exercise signed by Fath 'Ali Shah, very similar to the present in style (Spirit and Life, exhibition catalogue, Italy and London, 2007, no. 74, p. 106-07). Another was exhibited in Geneva in 1985 (Toby Falk (ed.), Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, no. 176, p.189). These all demonstrate that as well as being a great patron of the arts, Fath 'Ali Shah was also an practiced calligrapher.
1. A folio with an inscription in the cartouche stating that this is the hand of Muhammad Shah Qajar. The colophon mentions that the folio was copied for Khadija Sultan Khanum, the mother of Na'ib al-Saltana (i.e. Prince Nasir al-Din) on 7 Shawwal AD 1264/6 September 1848 AD.
2. A hadith of Imam 'Ali copied for the Na'ib al-Saltana by Abu'l Fazl, son of Fazlullah Savaji in Rabi' al-Thani AH 1264/March-April 1848 AD. Abu'l Fazl Savaji (AH 1248-1312/1832-95 AD) is a well-known scholar and calligrapher of the Qajar period who wrote the inscriptions of many buildings. His recorded works are dated between AH 1261/1845-46 AD and AH 1286/1869-70 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. I, Teheran 1345 sh, pp. 29-32).
3-6. Persian verses in large nasta'liq, each signed by Fath 'Ali Shah. A double album page in the Aga Khan Collection also features a calligraphic exercise signed by Fath 'Ali Shah, very similar to the present in style (Spirit and Life, exhibition catalogue, Italy and London, 2007, no. 74, p. 106-07). Another was exhibited in Geneva in 1985 (Toby Falk (ed.), Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, no. 176, p.189). These all demonstrate that as well as being a great patron of the arts, Fath 'Ali Shah was also an practiced calligrapher.