ManuscriptsPersian17th century

Left half of the double-page illuminated frontispiece (illuminated frontispiece recto; text verso of folio 4), folio from a manuscript of the Mathnavi Ma‘navi by Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi

1615

Description

The manuscript opens with a lavishly gilded and richly illuminated double-page frontispiece. The text is copied in naskh in four columns and twenty-five lines to a page. Four other headings at the beginning of each chapter (daftar) are exquisitely illuminated and enclosed in floral decorations on the margins. The colophons at the end of these books indicate that they were finished in Rabi II 1019 (June-July 1610), 7 Shawwal 1019 (23 December 1610), 25 Dhu al-hijjah 1020 (28 February 1612), 8 Rabi II 1024 (7 May 1615) spanning five years. The light brown binding with lighter-tone flap has a gilt-stamped central medallion depicting a bird on a tree, a rabbit and a fox. The inner covers of burgundy color carry a central medallion and pendants, which are decorated with arabesque filigrees on blue, green and white grounds. During the binding repair the lower board has been installed upside-down

Classification

Manuscripts

Medium

Ink, colors, and gold on paper

Culture

Persian

Period

Safavid period

Century

17th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

24 × 14 cm (9 7/16 × 5 1/2 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.