Details
AN ILLUMINATED FOLIO FROM A ROYAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE DIWAN OF ANWARI
SIGNED MANSUR NAQQASH, AJMER, MUGHAL INDIA, DATED AH 1025/1616 AD
Ink and opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, recto with gold and polychrome floral illuminated shamsa, gold illuminated birds above and below, inscriptions with date of completion, seal impressions of Jahangir, Shah Jahan and 'Alamgir, verso with gold and polychrome illuminated headpiece surmounting 12ll. of black nasta'liq aranged in two columns in clouds reserved against gold ground, within gold and polychrome rules, gold and polychrome scrolling floral margins, headpiece signed, minor pigment loss
Folio 12 x 7 1/8in. (30.4 x 18.2cm.)
Provenance
Royal Mughal Library, Delhi, 17th -18th century.
With Spink & Son, London, 1980, sold to
Private collection, New York, sold circa 2007 to
Private collection, London, sold through London trade to present owner
Literature
Masterpieces from a Royal Collection, The Forbidden City Publishing House, 2018, pp. 446-449; illus. pp. 447 and 449; cat. no. 173.
A.K. Das, Wonders of Nature: Ustad Mansur at the Mughal Court, Marg Publications, 2012, pp. 61, nos. 66-67.
J. Seyller, The Inspection and Valuation of Manuscripts in the Imperial Mughal Library, Artibus Asiae, 1997, 57:3/4,
pp. 245 and 289.
M. Spink & F. Galloway, Islamic Art from India, Spink & Son Ltd, 1980, p. 36, no. 62.
Exhibited
Palace Museum, Beijing, Masterpieces from a Royal Collection, 17 April - 17 June 2018, no. 173.
Engraved
Inscription on the right is a note in the hand of Shah Jahan:
bismillah al-rahman al-rahim
elahi, in diwan-e Anwari betarikh-e bist-o panjom-e mah-e bahman-e elahi, motabeghe hashtom-e shahr-e jamadi al-thani saneh 1037 hejri, ruz-e jolus-e mobarakast dakhele ketankhaneh in niyazmand-e dargah shod, hararahu shahab al-din mohammad shah jahan padshah ibn jahangir padshah ibn akbar padshah
‘In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
O God, this Diwan of Anwari dated 25th of the divine month of Bahman, equivalent to the 8th of Jamada al-Thani in the year of AH 1037/ 1628 AD, the auspicious day of my ascension, entered the library of this servant of God, written by Shahab al-Din Muhammad Shah Jahan Padshah ibn Jahangir Padshah ibn Akbar Padshah’
Inscription on the left is a note in the hand of Jahangir:
Allah-u akbar
diwan-e anwari ke az ghaside guyan moghararast, dar ketabkhaneh-ye man etmam yaft, niyazmande dargah-e elahi hararahu nour al-din jahangir ibn akbar padshah dar saneh 1025 hejri motabeghe saneh yazdah jolus dar shahre ajmar rooze panj-shanbeh, ark hat-e avval dar tasvir-e se majles-e aval, baghi, doyom, va seyom, reza ‘abbasi
‘God is great
The Diwan of Anwari which is a collection of poems, was completed in my library, the servant of god, written by Nour al-Din Jahangir ibn Akbar Padshah in the year AH 1025/ 1616-17 AD, equivalent to the 11th year of my succession, in the city of Ajmer, on Thursday. In the first line, in the third illustration, the first, last, second and third gathering [is by] Reza ‘Abbasi’
Seal impressions:
Oval shaped seal on the right: Padshah-e Ghazi Muhammad Shah Jahan Shahab al-Din Sahib Qaran-e Bani, AH 1037/ 1628-29 AD
Round shaped seal in the middle: Akbar Shah Jahangir Shah, AH 1025/1616-17 AD
Oval shaped seal on the left: Abu al-Zafar al-din Mohammad Mojtaba Qazi ‘Alamgir Padshah, AH 1070/1660-61
Small square shaped seal impression: hedayat min ehday, AH 1150/ 1640-41 AD ‘presented as a gift’
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