Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 38•,R
A book of prayers to be recited after each daily prayer, copied by Muhammad Hashim, illuminated later by the order of Mustashar al-Mulk Persia, text dated AH 1199/AD 1784-85, illuminated in AH 1287/AD 1870-71
26 October 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£1,000 - £1,500
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A book of prayers to be recited after each daily prayer, copied by Muhammad Hashim, illuminated later by the order of Mustashar al-Mulk
Persia, text dated AH 1199/AD 1784-85, illuminated in AH 1287/AD 1870-71
Persia, text dated AH 1199/AD 1784-85, illuminated in AH 1287/AD 1870-71
Arabic manuscript on paper, 58 leaves, 8 lines to the page written in naskhi script in black ink, headings and significant words written in red ink, double interlinear rules in gold, inner margins ruled in gold, blue, green, red and black, each prayer headed with an illuminated panel, one illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, owner's seal impressions, three leaves at end ruled and prepared but left blank without text, late 19th Century lacquer binding
161 x 103 mm.
161 x 103 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private UK collection.
There are many recorded works in naskhi signed with the name Muhammad Hashim. This manuscript may be by the Muhammad Hashim recorded as a son of Muhammad Salih known as Zargar (goldsmith), a much praised naskhi calligrapher of the late 18th and early 19th Century. His recorded works are dated between AH 1172/AD 1758-59 and AH 1212/AD 1797-98. (See Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. 4, Tehran, 1358 sh., pp. 192-194). However, there are other recorded works with a related name, for instance Muhammad Hashim Isfahani, Muhammad Hashim ibn Muhammad Yahya and Muhammad Hashim Tayer, all with similar dates and with almost no biographical details.
There is another note after the colophon stating that the manuscript was commissioned by Haji Mirza Muhammad Riza Mustashar al-Mulk and signed by Muhammad 'Ali Khurasani in AH 1287/AD 1870-71. This scribe has not been identified and the name Muhammad 'Ali appears to have been tampered with.
Mirza Muhammad Riza (d. Rabi' II, 1308/October-November 1890) held various posts in Khorasan including Governor and Superintendent of the Shrine of Imam Riza in Mashhad. He held the title Mustashar al-Tawliah before being titled Mustashar al-Mulk in AH 1284/AD 1867-68), and was then titled Mu'tamin al-Saltanah in AH 1300/AD 1882-83. (See M. Bamdad, Dictionary of National Biography of Iran 1700-1900, vol. 3, Tehran 1966, pp. 404-406).
The seal impressions are those of Muhammad Taqi.
The decoration of the binding resembles that on a pen box in the Khalili Collection, dated to the late 19th Century: see N. D. Khalili, B. W. Robinson, T. Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands: Part Two, Oxford 1997, p. 194, no. 417.
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