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拍品专文
This remarkable folio comes from one of the most artistically ambitious manuscripts produced at the late Timurid court in Herat. Throughout the manuscript, the elegant nasta‘liq was not written with a pen but painstakingly cut from coloured paper and applied to contrasting grounds. The virtuosity of this qit‘a, or découpage, is matched by the exquisite illumination of the heading panels and gold-sprinkled borders. The manuscript’s magnificent opening double-page frontispiece further demonstrates the exceptional quality of its production (Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Los Angeles, 1989, cat. nos. 148-9, pp. 268–-70 and 359–60; A. Sakisian, La Miniature Persane du XII au XVII siècle, Paris, 1929, fig.66, pl.XLI).
The text is the Divan, or collected poetry, of Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara (r.1470-1506), ruler of Herat and one of the great patrons of the arts of the book. His court attracted such celebrated figures as Bihzad, ‘Ali Shir Nava’i and Jami, while Sultan Husayn himself wrote poetry in Chaghatay Turkish under the pen-name Husayni. In this manuscript the ghazals are arranged alphabetically according to their rhyme (David J. Roxburgh, The Persian Album 1400–1600, New Haven, 2005, fig.92, pp.170-1).
The calligraphy has long been attributed to Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi (1453-1519), the pre-eminent nasta‘liq calligrapher of late Timurid Herat (Anthony Welch in Toby Falk (ed.), Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, no.35, p.65). The découpage has been attributed to ‘Abdallah Heravi. This attribution of the découpage is supported by an Istanbul folio from the manuscript bearing the name of the cutter, while the two related folios in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (MS.809.MIAQ and MS.810.MIAQ), have provided important technical evidence concerning the production of the cut-paper script. Microscopic examination of the Doha folios revealed pinholes and minute corrections to the contours of the letters made with a knife, offering remarkable evidence for the methods employed in producing this highly refined form of calligraphy (Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes, ‘Cut-Out Calligraphy from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Discussion of Its Origins and Significance and Observations on the Techniques and Tools Used’, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, vol.2, nos. 1-2, 2021, pp.3-31). The Smithsonian’s two folios from the same manuscript, F1929.66 and F1929.67, likewise attribute the cut-out work to Shaykh Abdallah Haravi and associate the script with the style of Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi.
The manuscript is now dispersed, with its largest surviving fragment in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (TIEM T.1926). A significant group is preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.73.5.599a-b, M.73.5.599c-d, M.73.5.599e-f and M.73.56, formerly in the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Other folios include two in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, F1929.66 and F1929.67. Further examples are preserved in the Austrian National Library, Vienna, the Library of Congress, Washington, the Brooklyn Museum, the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, and the Cincinnati Art Museum. For the Vienna material see Dorothea Duda, Die illuminierten Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek: Islamische Handschriften I, Vienna, 1983, pl.368. Two further folios, formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, were sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 April 2011, lots 41 and 42. For further published examples and discussion of the manuscript see Lentz and Lowry, op.cit., nos.148-9, pp.268-70 and 359-60; Roxburgh, op. cit., fig.92, pp.170-1; Sakisian, op.cit., fig. 66, pl. XLI; Falk (ed.), op.cit., no.35; and Duda, op.cit., pl.368.
Combining the poetry of Sultan Husayn with nasta‘liq attributed to Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi and the extraordinary cut-paper craftsmanship attributed to ‘Abdallah Heravi, this folio is a superb testament to the refinement and technical ambition of the arts of the book in late Timurid Herat.
The text is the Divan, or collected poetry, of Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara (r.1470-1506), ruler of Herat and one of the great patrons of the arts of the book. His court attracted such celebrated figures as Bihzad, ‘Ali Shir Nava’i and Jami, while Sultan Husayn himself wrote poetry in Chaghatay Turkish under the pen-name Husayni. In this manuscript the ghazals are arranged alphabetically according to their rhyme (David J. Roxburgh, The Persian Album 1400–1600, New Haven, 2005, fig.92, pp.170-1).
The calligraphy has long been attributed to Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi (1453-1519), the pre-eminent nasta‘liq calligrapher of late Timurid Herat (Anthony Welch in Toby Falk (ed.), Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, no.35, p.65). The découpage has been attributed to ‘Abdallah Heravi. This attribution of the découpage is supported by an Istanbul folio from the manuscript bearing the name of the cutter, while the two related folios in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (MS.809.MIAQ and MS.810.MIAQ), have provided important technical evidence concerning the production of the cut-paper script. Microscopic examination of the Doha folios revealed pinholes and minute corrections to the contours of the letters made with a knife, offering remarkable evidence for the methods employed in producing this highly refined form of calligraphy (Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes, ‘Cut-Out Calligraphy from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries: Discussion of Its Origins and Significance and Observations on the Techniques and Tools Used’, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, vol.2, nos. 1-2, 2021, pp.3-31). The Smithsonian’s two folios from the same manuscript, F1929.66 and F1929.67, likewise attribute the cut-out work to Shaykh Abdallah Haravi and associate the script with the style of Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi.
The manuscript is now dispersed, with its largest surviving fragment in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul (TIEM T.1926). A significant group is preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.73.5.599a-b, M.73.5.599c-d, M.73.5.599e-f and M.73.56, formerly in the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Other folios include two in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, F1929.66 and F1929.67. Further examples are preserved in the Austrian National Library, Vienna, the Library of Congress, Washington, the Brooklyn Museum, the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, and the Cincinnati Art Museum. For the Vienna material see Dorothea Duda, Die illuminierten Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek: Islamische Handschriften I, Vienna, 1983, pl.368. Two further folios, formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, were sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 April 2011, lots 41 and 42. For further published examples and discussion of the manuscript see Lentz and Lowry, op.cit., nos.148-9, pp.268-70 and 359-60; Roxburgh, op. cit., fig.92, pp.170-1; Sakisian, op.cit., fig. 66, pl. XLI; Falk (ed.), op.cit., no.35; and Duda, op.cit., pl.368.
Combining the poetry of Sultan Husayn with nasta‘liq attributed to Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi and the extraordinary cut-paper craftsmanship attributed to ‘Abdallah Heravi, this folio is a superb testament to the refinement and technical ambition of the arts of the book in late Timurid Herat.