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Lot Essay
This elegant folio comes from a manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library (Mughal mss.20), a virtually complete copy of Jami's Khamsa or Panj Ganj. It comprises 177ff. which records state were acquired in 1937 from the Demotte Collection in New York. The Chester Beatty manuscript is dated 15 Dhu'l-Hijja AH 926/20 August 1520 AD (on f.46r.) and is signed by Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi (on f.145r.). The folios all have the same margins and series of small illuminated triangular panels depicting birds, animals and human figures. Our folio is of particular importance since it bears a marginal signature and note by Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi which announces the ending of the manuscript on the upper margins of the recto.
An inscription in Emperor Jahangir's hand on what seems to be the original opening flyleaf states that the manuscript was written by 'Ali Mashhadi (d. 1520) for Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (the son of Sultan Husayn and the last Timurid in Iran, d.1517 AD) and that it entered the library of Shah Isma'il Safavi (d.1524 AD) as a present from Mirza 'Ali Beg Amir Muhammad Baranduq Barlas in the vicinity of the Shaykh Jam minaret (in present day Afghanistan). Mirza 'Ali Beg's father, Muhammad Baranduq, is mentioned in the Baburnama as one of the leading amirs of Sultan Husayn Mirza (AH 842-912/1438-1506 AD) among whose artists Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi is mentioned (Beveridge, 1969, pp.270 and 291-3).
The margins appear to be later, although from the verso of a folio from the same manuscript sold in these Rooms, 18 October 1994, lot 8, it was clear that the original margins were similar in style. That folio was in fact another colophon page which bore the signature of Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi and a date of 15 Dhu'l Hijja AH 920/20 August 1520 AD.
One of the small triangular panels on a page in the Chester Beatty is signed Mushfiq and dated 1603. The painter, Mushfiq is known to have worked in the late 16th and early 17th century in the library of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan Khanan (1556-1627 AD), one of the most powerful Mughal nobles of his time, who was educated at Akbar's court following the murder of his father. Mushfiq appears to have been the most sophisticated of Khan Khanan's artists (who included Fazl, Nadim, Mohan, Yusuf 'Ali, Qasim and Kamal), and contemporary sources indicate that, though highly regarded enough to have worked in Akbar's royal atelier, he spent the majority of his career in the private library, still working there in 1617. Only two other signed works of his are known. One is a painting of a muse in the British Museum (1947-10-11-02) and the other is an illustration from a Khamsa dated 1610 in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Or.fol.1278). Although Mushfiq signed only one of the small illuminated panels, Linda Leach attributes the other illuminations also to him. She writes that he was probably considered the illuminator of the text, and as such would have been responsible for ornamentation of the entire volume (Leach, 1995, no. 570).
Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi was born around the year 1437-38 AD. He was considered first among equals by calligraphers of the period. Qadi Ahmad in his famous treatise describes his writing among other writings as the sun among other planets. He was active at the court of Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat (Minorsky, 1959, pp. 101-103).
F1. of the Chester Beatty manuscript has the impression of Shah Jahan's seal dated AH 1037/1627-8 AD and also that of Aurangzeb dated AH 1070/1659-60 AD. A further inscription that is in Jahangir's own hand dating from his 20th regnal year gives the early history of the manuscript (as noted above) and states that Jahangir received it in Kashmir from 'Abd al-Rahim (Khan Khanan) in AH 1034/1624-5 AD. This was a few years before the death of Khan Khanan when he had been sent to the Deccan with Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan) to supervise the Prince's rebellion against his father. However Jahangir suspected Khan Khanan of treachery and it is possible that the Khan, hearing of this, sent the Khamsa to Jahangir in Kashmir to placate him.
Another folio from this manuscript sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 25; a bifolio from the same manuscript sold as part of the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Sotheby's, London, 6 April 2011, lot 104.
An inscription in Emperor Jahangir's hand on what seems to be the original opening flyleaf states that the manuscript was written by 'Ali Mashhadi (d. 1520) for Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (the son of Sultan Husayn and the last Timurid in Iran, d.1517 AD) and that it entered the library of Shah Isma'il Safavi (d.1524 AD) as a present from Mirza 'Ali Beg Amir Muhammad Baranduq Barlas in the vicinity of the Shaykh Jam minaret (in present day Afghanistan). Mirza 'Ali Beg's father, Muhammad Baranduq, is mentioned in the Baburnama as one of the leading amirs of Sultan Husayn Mirza (AH 842-912/1438-1506 AD) among whose artists Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi is mentioned (Beveridge, 1969, pp.270 and 291-3).
The margins appear to be later, although from the verso of a folio from the same manuscript sold in these Rooms, 18 October 1994, lot 8, it was clear that the original margins were similar in style. That folio was in fact another colophon page which bore the signature of Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi and a date of 15 Dhu'l Hijja AH 920/20 August 1520 AD.
One of the small triangular panels on a page in the Chester Beatty is signed Mushfiq and dated 1603. The painter, Mushfiq is known to have worked in the late 16th and early 17th century in the library of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan Khanan (1556-1627 AD), one of the most powerful Mughal nobles of his time, who was educated at Akbar's court following the murder of his father. Mushfiq appears to have been the most sophisticated of Khan Khanan's artists (who included Fazl, Nadim, Mohan, Yusuf 'Ali, Qasim and Kamal), and contemporary sources indicate that, though highly regarded enough to have worked in Akbar's royal atelier, he spent the majority of his career in the private library, still working there in 1617. Only two other signed works of his are known. One is a painting of a muse in the British Museum (1947-10-11-02) and the other is an illustration from a Khamsa dated 1610 in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Or.fol.1278). Although Mushfiq signed only one of the small illuminated panels, Linda Leach attributes the other illuminations also to him. She writes that he was probably considered the illuminator of the text, and as such would have been responsible for ornamentation of the entire volume (Leach, 1995, no. 570).
Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi was born around the year 1437-38 AD. He was considered first among equals by calligraphers of the period. Qadi Ahmad in his famous treatise describes his writing among other writings as the sun among other planets. He was active at the court of Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat (Minorsky, 1959, pp. 101-103).
F1. of the Chester Beatty manuscript has the impression of Shah Jahan's seal dated AH 1037/1627-8 AD and also that of Aurangzeb dated AH 1070/1659-60 AD. A further inscription that is in Jahangir's own hand dating from his 20th regnal year gives the early history of the manuscript (as noted above) and states that Jahangir received it in Kashmir from 'Abd al-Rahim (Khan Khanan) in AH 1034/1624-5 AD. This was a few years before the death of Khan Khanan when he had been sent to the Deccan with Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan) to supervise the Prince's rebellion against his father. However Jahangir suspected Khan Khanan of treachery and it is possible that the Khan, hearing of this, sent the Khamsa to Jahangir in Kashmir to placate him.
Another folio from this manuscript sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 25; a bifolio from the same manuscript sold as part of the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, Sotheby's, London, 6 April 2011, lot 104.