A CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL

SIGNED 'ABDI AL-NISHAPURI, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED AH 934/1536-37 AD

Details

A CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL
SIGNED 'ABDI AL-NISHAPURI, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED AH 934/1536-37 AD
Persian manuscript on buff paper, with 6ll. of elegant black nasta'liq written on the diagonal, a further line of nasta'liq written down one side in gold outlined panels, panels of illumination in two corners, one with the signature of 'Abdi al-Nishapuri and the date of 943 written in clouds reserved against illuminated ground, laid down between gold and polychrome rules on wide blue Bukhara style borders decorated with gold floral illumination and set with a series of polychrome cartouches, the inner margin reinforced, some staining, backed on card, the reverse with later owner's stamp
Calligraphy 6 3/8 x 3¼in. (15.8 x 8.2cm.); folio 11¼ x 7¾in. (28.6 x 19.8cm.)

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Lot Essay

'Abdi al-Nishapuri was a poet as well as a calligrapher who was attached to the court of Shah Tahmasp. Contemporaries record that he had Sufi tendencies and 'Ali Shir Nava'i called him "'Abdi the Qalandar". His dated works range between AH 940 and 997/1533 and 1588 AD and Sam Mirza records that he was writing fine calligraphy into his old age. He is known mostly for individual pages (qit'a) that have been included in albums such as those made for Shah Isma'il, Bahram Mirza and Amir Ghayb Beg, all in the Hazine-i Evkaf Library, Istanbul (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Tehran, 1363/1984, pp.424-426).

A manuscript similarly signed 'Abdi Nishapuri and dated AH 949/1542-43 AD was offered in these Rooms, 16 October 2001, lot 77.

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