Manuscript of prayers
dated 1837
Description
The small manuscript opens with a minutely illuminated double-page frontispiece. The text is copied 15 lines to a page in naskh by ‘Alī Aṣghar b. Muḥammad Shafī‘ al-Arsanjānī in H. 1253 (1837). The manuscript comprises 127 folios, including 4 flyleaves. It contains 80 illuminated headings, one at the beginning of each prayer. All text folios are embellished with interlinear gilding. The manuscript is made for the servant, the humble Aqā Mullā Aḥmad son of the late Karbalā’i Muḥammad ‘Alī Shīrāzī. The leather binding is decorated with gold painted borders and stamped, painted and inlaid central and corner pieces, bearing flower paintings in green and purple/crimson. Inside covers are light brown plain leather with gold borders.
Dimensions
17 x 10.5 cm (6 11/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Provenance
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), loan; to Harvard Art Museums, 2015. Note: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (1913-2014) formed this collection over a period of sixty years. She purchased the works of art on the international art market.
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