Manuscripts16th century

Manuscript of the Muntakhab-i Bustan (Selections from the Bustan by Sa`di)

c. 1550-1600

Description

The manuscript opens with an exquisitely illuminated sarlawh above the text which is copied in two columns and 14 lines to a page in nasta`liq. According to the colophon the manuscript was copied by Mir Sayyid Ahmad al-Husayni who, based on a note on the first folio, was a pupil of Mir ‘Ali (Haravi). The text area is finely gold speckled. The binding is decorated with large-plate stamped and gilt leather covers, and the doublures are decorated with filigrees over colored paper ground; however, most filigrees have been damaged over time.

Classification

Manuscripts

Medium

Ink, colors, and gold on paper; stamped and gilded leather binding

Period

Safavid period

Century

16th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

22.5 × 15 cm (8 7/8 × 5 7/8 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.