Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 19•
Abu'l Hasan Muhammad bin al-Hasan bin Ahmad bin 'Ali bin Muhammad bin 'Umar bin Yahya al-'Alawi al-Husaini, Safihah Kamilah, prayers, with a dedication to Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Ashtiani, known as Hashim Khan, son of the 'Pillar of Khans', copied by Muhammad Kazin ibn Baha'-ad-Din, a pupil of Ibn Muhammad 'Ali Muhammad Shafi' al-Tabrizi, interlinear Persian translation copied by Muhammad Hadi ibn Hajji Abdullah Ashtiani Qajar Persia, dated 5th shawwal 1237/25th June 1822; later floral lacquer binding signed by Shukrallah Afshar, dated AH 1239/AD 1823-24
8 April 2014, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £9,000
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Abu'l Hasan Muhammad bin al-Hasan bin Ahmad bin 'Ali bin Muhammad bin 'Umar bin Yahya al-'Alawi al-Husaini, Safihah Kamilah, prayers, with a dedication to Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Ashtiani, known as Hashim Khan, son of the 'Pillar of Khans', copied by Muhammad Kazin ibn Baha'-ad-Din, a pupil of Ibn Muhammad 'Ali Muhammad Shafi' al-Tabrizi, interlinear Persian translation copied by Muhammad Hadi ibn Hajji Abdullah Ashtiani
Qajar Persia, dated 5th shawwal 1237/25th June 1822; later floral lacquer binding signed by Shukrallah Afshar, dated AH 1239/AD 1823-24
Qajar Persia, dated 5th shawwal 1237/25th June 1822; later floral lacquer binding signed by Shukrallah Afshar, dated AH 1239/AD 1823-24
Arabic and Persian manuscript on paper, 230 leaves, 9 lines to the page written in clear naskhi script in black ink within gilt cloudbands, interlinear Persian translation written in small nasta'liq script in red, double interlinear rules in gold, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, catchwords, headings written in thuluth script in blue, illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, outer margins of folios 1b and 2a richly decorated with intertwining stylised floral and vegetal motifs in gold and some colours, floral lacquer binding signed raqam-i kamtarin Shukrallah Afshar fi 1239 [attempt made to alter date to 1139], covers decorated with floral sprays including wild red roses, tulip and irises on brown ground, outer borders decorated with an intertwining vegetal motif in gold, in good condition, binding rebacked, slightly chipped
200 x 135 mm.
200 x 135 mm.
Footnotes
The patron, Muhammad Taqi Ashtiani, started his career at the finance ministry under Fath'Ali Shah and rose to high office. After battles with the Ottomans, he was sent to Erzerum to conclude a peace treaty in 1821 and was as a result given the title Qawam al-Dawla. He later became a Minister and deputy to Firuz Mirza in Fars. He died in 1846 (see M. Bamdad, Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, 1700-1900, vol. III, Tehran 1966, p. 324).
The scribe of the main text, Muhammad Kazin, is not recorded, but his teacher Muhammad Shafi' is described as a first-class Tabrizi calligrapher who had no equal among his contemporaries (see Mehdi Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. 4, Tehran 1358, vol. iv, pp. 163-65). The scribe of the interlinear translations is unrecorded.