A DÉCOUPÉ NASTA'LIQ QUATRAIN
A DÉCOUPÉ NASTA'LIQ QUATRAIN

SIGNED 'IMAD AL-HASSANI, SAFAVID IRAN, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details
A DÉCOUPÉ NASTA'LIQ QUATRAIN
SIGNED 'IMAD AL-HASSANI, SAFAVID IRAN, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on blue paper, with 4ll. of nasta'liq elegantly cut out and laid down on gold-speckled paper, the signature in smaller similar nasta'liq in the lower left hand corner, three panels of gold and polychrome illumination laid down on either side of the panel and in the upper right hand corner, further floral sprays around the calligraphy, laid down between plain and marbled minor borders, polychrome rules and another border of black nasta'liq panels on wide blue card margins
Panel 11 1/8 x 5 7/8in. (28.5 x 15.1cm.); folio 18¼ x 12¾in. (46.4 x 32.1cm.)

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Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse
Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse

Lot Essay

Mir 'Imad al-Hassani al-Husayni is amongst the most famous of the nasta'liq calligraphers of the Safavid period. He was born around the year AH 961/1553-54 AD in Qazwin, the capital of Safavid Iran. He later moved to Tabriz where he was apprenticed to the master Muhammad Husayn Tabrizi, moving back to the capital on completion of his studies in AH 981/1573-74 AD. He became an itinerant craftsman, as was the custom among his profession, accepting commissions as he moved from one town to the next. Later in life he set out for the Hajj and remained in the region for several years, working in Aleppo before returning to Iran in AH 1005/1596-97 AD. His great rival as court calligrapher, 'Ali Reza-i Abbassi, gradually replaced him in the Shah's favour and, in the increasingly extreme Shi'ite environment of the court of Shah 'Abbas, he was accused of Sufism and Sunnism. He was murdered in AH 1024/1615 AD by an agent of the Shah. His recorded works are dated between AH 972/1564-65 AD and AH 1024/1615-16 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval wa Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. II, Tehran, 1346 sh., pp.518-38).

Another calligraphic panel by 'Imad al-Hassani, that was also executed in découpé was sold in these Rooms, 11 April 2000, lot 62.

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