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Lot Essay
The chapters included in this manuscript are as follows:
1. The book starts in the middle of Kitab al-Tarji'
2. Risalah Nazariyyah (Speculative Treatise)
3. Nasihat al-Muluk (The Advice to Kings).
4. Gulistan
5. Kitab al-Tayyibat
6. Kitab al-Bada'i'
7. Kitab al-Khawatim
This manuscript is one of the earliest known copies of a collection of texts by the famous poet Sa’di. A note at the end of the colophon of the sixth text, Kitab al-Bada’i states that our manuscript was copied from Sa’di’s original. It therefore represents an almost unique link back to the original text by the author, composed in a period from which very few manuscripts survive. A slightly earlier copy of the Kulliyat of Sa’di dating to the last decade of the 7th century is in the collection of the Chester Beatty Library,(Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library, Vol.I, Dublin, 1960, ms.109, p.22). The Chester Beatty manuscript was copied by five different hands and is in large part formed of later 16th century additions. It is interesting to note that the illuminated sections of the Chester Beatty Kulliyat are attributed to circa AH 720-30 which would make them contemporaneous with our manuscript.
The shamsa located near the end of our manuscript is very closely related to illuminated shamsas found in two other manuscripts dated to the same period. The first related shamsa is located on the opening folio of a copy of the Manafi’ al-Hayavan in the Pierpont Morgan Library that is dated to the last decade of the 13th century (inv.MS 500; Marie Lukens Swietochowski and Stefano Carboni, Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s, New York, 1994, fig. 10, p.16). The use of colour with a central block of strong pigment surrounded by a lighter tone of the same hue is a technique employed in both illuminated shamsas. The cusped shapes emanating from a series of roundels contained within palmettes is also very similar. The shamsa in our manuscript is also closely related to a large rosette roundel in a copy of the Mu’nis al-Ahrar which was copied in Isfahan in Ramadan AH 741/ February-March 1341 AD and now in the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya in Kuwait (inv.LNS 9 MS, Swietochowski and Carboni, op.cit. fig 11, p. 16). The illumination would therefore confirm that our manuscript was copied during the first half of the 14th century - consistent with the date of AH 718 in the colophon.
The text layout and the flowing calligraphy of our manuscript is very closely mirrored by a copy of the Diwan of Siraj al-Din Qumuri in the Chester Beatty Library, dated to AH 710/1310-11 AD (Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library, Vol.I, Dublin, 1960, ms.107, pl.16). In particular, the style of the illuminated headings which opens Kitab al-Tayyibat is closely related to headings found in the copy of the Majmu’ah al-Rashidiyyah now in the Khalili Collection which was completed in 1311 (inv.Mss727). The square illuminated panels flanking either side of the text cartouche which contain stylized lotuses are very similar to those found on folio 259b in the Majmu’ah al-Rashidiyyah (Sheia S. Blair, A Compendium of Chronicles, London, 1995, folio 259b). This would again confirm that this rare surviving early copy of the Diwan of Sa’di dates to the first quarter of the 14th century.
An Ilkhanid copy of the Al-Majmu'at alRashidiyya by Rashid al-Din dated Ramadan AH 711/December 1311-January 1312 AD which sold in these Rooms, 13 October 1998, lot 55, had a comparable illuminated roundel.
1. The book starts in the middle of Kitab al-Tarji'
2. Risalah Nazariyyah (Speculative Treatise)
3. Nasihat al-Muluk (The Advice to Kings).
4. Gulistan
5. Kitab al-Tayyibat
6. Kitab al-Bada'i'
7. Kitab al-Khawatim
This manuscript is one of the earliest known copies of a collection of texts by the famous poet Sa’di. A note at the end of the colophon of the sixth text, Kitab al-Bada’i states that our manuscript was copied from Sa’di’s original. It therefore represents an almost unique link back to the original text by the author, composed in a period from which very few manuscripts survive. A slightly earlier copy of the Kulliyat of Sa’di dating to the last decade of the 7th century is in the collection of the Chester Beatty Library,(Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library, Vol.I, Dublin, 1960, ms.109, p.22). The Chester Beatty manuscript was copied by five different hands and is in large part formed of later 16th century additions. It is interesting to note that the illuminated sections of the Chester Beatty Kulliyat are attributed to circa AH 720-30 which would make them contemporaneous with our manuscript.
The shamsa located near the end of our manuscript is very closely related to illuminated shamsas found in two other manuscripts dated to the same period. The first related shamsa is located on the opening folio of a copy of the Manafi’ al-Hayavan in the Pierpont Morgan Library that is dated to the last decade of the 13th century (inv.MS 500; Marie Lukens Swietochowski and Stefano Carboni, Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s, New York, 1994, fig. 10, p.16). The use of colour with a central block of strong pigment surrounded by a lighter tone of the same hue is a technique employed in both illuminated shamsas. The cusped shapes emanating from a series of roundels contained within palmettes is also very similar. The shamsa in our manuscript is also closely related to a large rosette roundel in a copy of the Mu’nis al-Ahrar which was copied in Isfahan in Ramadan AH 741/ February-March 1341 AD and now in the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya in Kuwait (inv.LNS 9 MS, Swietochowski and Carboni, op.cit. fig 11, p. 16). The illumination would therefore confirm that our manuscript was copied during the first half of the 14th century - consistent with the date of AH 718 in the colophon.
The text layout and the flowing calligraphy of our manuscript is very closely mirrored by a copy of the Diwan of Siraj al-Din Qumuri in the Chester Beatty Library, dated to AH 710/1310-11 AD (Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library, Vol.I, Dublin, 1960, ms.107, pl.16). In particular, the style of the illuminated headings which opens Kitab al-Tayyibat is closely related to headings found in the copy of the Majmu’ah al-Rashidiyyah now in the Khalili Collection which was completed in 1311 (inv.Mss727). The square illuminated panels flanking either side of the text cartouche which contain stylized lotuses are very similar to those found on folio 259b in the Majmu’ah al-Rashidiyyah (Sheia S. Blair, A Compendium of Chronicles, London, 1995, folio 259b). This would again confirm that this rare surviving early copy of the Diwan of Sa’di dates to the first quarter of the 14th century.
An Ilkhanid copy of the Al-Majmu'at alRashidiyya by Rashid al-Din dated Ramadan AH 711/December 1311-January 1312 AD which sold in these Rooms, 13 October 1998, lot 55, had a comparable illuminated roundel.