Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 7•
Forty prophetic hadith of the Prophet concerning the Imam 'Ali, copied by Salim al-Mashhadi, and dedicated to Shah Tahmasp Safavid Persia, dated Ah 949/AD 1542-43
6 October 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £27,500 inc. premium
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Forty prophetic hadith of the Prophet concerning the Imam 'Ali, copied by Salim al-Mashhadi, and dedicated to Shah Tahmasp
Safavid Persia, dated Ah 949/AD 1542-43
Safavid Persia, dated Ah 949/AD 1542-43
Persian and Arabic manuscript on pink paper, 10 leaves, 12 lines to the page written diagonally and horizontally in elegant nasta'liq script in black ink, Arabic text picked out in white and gold, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, cornerpieces and outer margins richly decorated with intertwining floral and vegetal motifs in gold, catchwords, fine illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, corners rather worn, faded, two later flyleaves sprinkled with silver, 17th/18th Century red morocco with stamped central medallions, cornerpieces and border panels decorated with cloudbands, serrated leaves on gold ground, with flap, rebacked, edges worn
220 x 157 mm.
220 x 157 mm.
Footnotes
The manuscript is an unrecorded text of forty sayings (hadith) of the Prophet about the Imam 'Ali, which according to the preface were collected by a certain Dust al-Hashimi al-Husaini (unidentified), put into Persian quatrains and dedicated to Shah Tahmasp (reg. 1524-76), whose name and titles are given in gold.
The text was copied by Salim, a nasta'liq scribe, who was of Ethiopian (Habashi) origin and a pupil of Shah Mahmud Nishapuri. He is recorded as a master in writing in colours as well as in ink, as in this manuscript. He lived in Mashhad and died circa 1582. His recorded works are dated between AH 961/AD 1553-54 and AH 976/AD 1568-69 (see Mehdi Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-navisan, nasta'liq navisan, vol. 1, 1345 sh, pp. 282-5; V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters, Washington 1959, p. 152). This manuscript would appear to be Salim's earliest recorded work.