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Lot Essay
The illustrations in this manuscript are as follows:
1. Bahram feasts in the orange pavilion
2. Bahram feasts in the rose pavilion
3. Bahram feasts in the sandalwood pavilion
4. Bahram feasts in the white pavilion
5. Ibn Salam asks for Layla's hand
Two copies of Hatifi's Timurnama by Pir 'Ali have been recorded - an undated copy in the Madrasa Sipahsalar and another in the Walters Art Gallery, dated Rajab AH 933/April-May 1527 AD. He is mentioned in the Gulistan-i Honar as a pupil of Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi. It has also been suggested that he was the son of the poet 'Abd al-Rahman Jami (see Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va asar-e khosh nevisan, vol. I, no. 169, pp. 106-107).
Our manuscript clearly shows two stages of production - firstly the copying of the text in elegant nasta'liq signed by Pir 'Ali and dated AH 930/1524-25 AD, then subsequently the margins were added and the manuscript was illuminated and illustrated. The calligrapher Pir 'Ali is recorded as being a student of Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi who was based in Herat for much of his working life. It is not clear however if the manuscript itself was copied in Herat or whether Pir 'Ali was brought to the Shaybanid court at Bukhara and copied the manuscript there. The illustrations present in this manuscript with their quite simplified oval faces with small rounded turbans are in the style of the Bukhara school dating to circa 1560. For a comparable miniature in the collection of the John Rylands Library (inv. Ryl.Pers.31), see B.W. Robinson, Persian Painting in the John Rylands Library, London, 1980, no. 676 p. 239). It appears that the text was copied in Herat and later embellished in Bukhara. The Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara conquered Herat from the Timurids in 1507 and many manuscripts and artisans were subsequently carried off to the capital at Bukhara. Our manuscript was probably illustrated at the same time in Bukhara as a Timurnama also copied by Pir 'Ali dated Rajab AH 933/April-May 1527 AD, and now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (inv. MS W.648; a digitised copy of the manuscript is available online at: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/29593/epic-of-timur/). Our manuscript is however illuminated to a much greater extent with three pairs of shamsas and illuminated margins throughout.
1. Bahram feasts in the orange pavilion
2. Bahram feasts in the rose pavilion
3. Bahram feasts in the sandalwood pavilion
4. Bahram feasts in the white pavilion
5. Ibn Salam asks for Layla's hand
Two copies of Hatifi's Timurnama by Pir 'Ali have been recorded - an undated copy in the Madrasa Sipahsalar and another in the Walters Art Gallery, dated Rajab AH 933/April-May 1527 AD. He is mentioned in the Gulistan-i Honar as a pupil of Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi. It has also been suggested that he was the son of the poet 'Abd al-Rahman Jami (see Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va asar-e khosh nevisan, vol. I, no. 169, pp. 106-107).
Our manuscript clearly shows two stages of production - firstly the copying of the text in elegant nasta'liq signed by Pir 'Ali and dated AH 930/1524-25 AD, then subsequently the margins were added and the manuscript was illuminated and illustrated. The calligrapher Pir 'Ali is recorded as being a student of Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi who was based in Herat for much of his working life. It is not clear however if the manuscript itself was copied in Herat or whether Pir 'Ali was brought to the Shaybanid court at Bukhara and copied the manuscript there. The illustrations present in this manuscript with their quite simplified oval faces with small rounded turbans are in the style of the Bukhara school dating to circa 1560. For a comparable miniature in the collection of the John Rylands Library (inv. Ryl.Pers.31), see B.W. Robinson, Persian Painting in the John Rylands Library, London, 1980, no. 676 p. 239). It appears that the text was copied in Herat and later embellished in Bukhara. The Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara conquered Herat from the Timurids in 1507 and many manuscripts and artisans were subsequently carried off to the capital at Bukhara. Our manuscript was probably illustrated at the same time in Bukhara as a Timurnama also copied by Pir 'Ali dated Rajab AH 933/April-May 1527 AD, and now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (inv. MS W.648; a digitised copy of the manuscript is available online at: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/29593/epic-of-timur/). Our manuscript is however illuminated to a much greater extent with three pairs of shamsas and illuminated margins throughout.