SAFAVID IRAN, 17TH CENTURY

Details

SHARAF AL-DIN AL-YAZDI (D. 1454 AD): ZAFARNAMA
SAFAVID IRAN, 17TH CENTURY
A section from The Book of Victory, a biography of Timur, Persian manuscript on paper, 58ff. plus one fly-leaf, each with 17ll. elegant black nasta'liq script, words and phrases in gold, some lines of text in gold panels, gold margins between black rules, blue outer rule, opening folio with gold and polychrome illuminated heading panel, incomplete at end, in Qajar brown lacquer binding with floral medallion and pendants and gold borders, paper covered doublures
Text 8 x 4 ½in. (20 x 11.2cm.); folio 10 ¾ x 7in. (27.5 x 17.8cm.)

Provenance

The Hagop Kevorkian Collection (669/1337); acquired Sotheby's, 18 April 1983, lot 132

Special notice

No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The Zafarnama of Yazdi, is the history or 'Book of Victory' of Timur and Khalil Sultan. Commissioned by Timur's grandson Ibrahim Sultan bin Shahrukh, the governor of Shiraz, the text, in ornate prose, was completed by Sharaf al-Din 'Ali Yazdi in AH 828/1424-25 AD. It was much acclaimed in Iran, and by 1595 a copy - illustrated with twelve paintings by the master Bihzad - had been acquired by the Mughal court.

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