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Lot Essay
This manuscript has belonged to several poets and admirers of poetry who filled its pages over the course of the centuries. A small signature in the earliest part of the manuscripts indicates that it was probably originally that of the poet Muhammad Rafi' Wa'iz Qazvini, who died in AH 1089/1678-79 AD. As well as being a poet, he was a preacher in the Congregational Mosque in Qazvin and the author of an acclaimed work on ethics, the Abwab al-Jinan. A short biography and some examples of his poetry are given by Reza-Quli Khan Hidayat (d. 1871) in his Riyad al-'Arifin (Tehran, 1305, p.237). It is likely that he both composed the early part of this manuscript and copied it. Other poems in the manuscript include those by Mir Sayyid 'Ali, penname Mushtaq (d. 1169-70). There are also some Turkish poems, an extract from the Mathnavi Mi'raj al-Khayal of Mirza 'Ali Riza “Tajalli”, poems of Sa'ib Tabrizi, Mirza 'Abd al-Wahhab Nishat (d.1828-9), Khaqani, and poems composed by the (unidentified) scribe (li-muharririhi). Different parts of the manuscript are dated to AH 1090/1679-80 AD, AH 1105/1693-94 AD, AH 1177/1763-64 AD, and Sha'ban AH 1208/March-April 1794 AD. The fine lacquer binding which covers the manuscript is likely to slightly pre-date the text. A similar binding is in the V&A is attributed to late 16th or early 17th century Herat (Duncan Haldane, Islamic Bookbindings, London, 1983, no.94).