SHAMA'ILNAMA (HILYEH)

QAJAR IRAN, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Details

SHAMA'ILNAMA (HILYEH)
QAJAR IRAN, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the Arabic text in gold within illuminated panels in three columns, Persian translation in nasta'liq in smaller panels between the lines of text, small portrait of Imam 'Ali in gouache heightened with gold above, outer illuminated border, original wood frame with gold illumination

16.7/8 x 12.3/8in. (43 x 31.4cm.) with frame

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Lot Essay

This very finely illuminated panel is a text describing the appearance of the Prophet Muhammad, known in Turkish as a hilyeh. A similar piece is in the Nasser D. Khalili collection. (Vernoit, S., Occidentalism in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, vol.XXIII, Oxford, 1997, no.32, pp. 64-5. and Nabil F. Safwat, The Art of the Pen, Oxford, 1996, cat.40, pp.67-69). The format of this hilyeh is very different from the Ottoman examples and typically Qajar; it incorporates a picture of Imam 'Ali at top.

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