Lot n° 287
Estimation :
1000 - 1500
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 2 834EUR
Manuscript with 15 miniatures, from Nizami's... - Lot 287 - Coutau-Bégarie
Manuscript with 15 miniatures, from Nizami's Khamseh
Polychrome pigments and gold on paper, European leather binding
Kashmir, 19th century 26.5 x 14.5 x 3 cm
This Kashmiri manuscript tells the story of Khosrow and Shirin, popularized in the second of five poems that make up the famous Khamseh, written by the Persian poet Nizami in the late 12th century. It contains fifteen miniatures painted in polychrome and gold, including Khosrow seeing Shirin naked, washing her long hair by a river; Shirin visiting the sculptor Farhad, busy digging Mount Behistun on Khosrow's orders; Farhad carrying Shirin and her horse on his back; Farhad, dead at the foot of the mountain from which he threw himself, following the news of Shirin's death; Khosrow's son murdering his father in his wedding bed, with Shirin by his side; or Shirin ending her life at Khosrow's grave.
The opening folio features a richly illuminated cartouche with floral decoration on a blue and gold background, forming mandorles framed by delicate floral friezes.
The text in black nasta'liq script is, on the majority of the pages, divided into two columns of fifteen lines, with the chapter headings written in orange ink. The whole is framed in orange and blue.
In addition, a title in red in the margins of the opening folio announces the story of Leila and Majnun, the third poem of the Khamseh. This second story has been copied in its entirety into the margins of this manuscript. It is interesting to see how the copyist has arranged the text of the main manuscript at the end of the book so that the texts of Khosrow and Shirin and Leila and Majnun coincide at the end.
The European brown leather binding dates from the early 19th century.
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