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A selection of poems from the Khamsa of Nizami, divided into 37 sections on different subjects, beginning with the praise of God and the Prophet and including subjects such as honesty, love, contentment and patience, copied by the scribe Mir Khalilullah Shah, better known as Padishah Qalam, in a contemporary gilt binding Safavid Persia, late 16th/early 17th Century image 1
A selection of poems from the Khamsa of Nizami, divided into 37 sections on different subjects, beginning with the praise of God and the Prophet and including subjects such as honesty, love, contentment and patience, copied by the scribe Mir Khalilullah Shah, better known as Padishah Qalam, in a contemporary gilt binding Safavid Persia, late 16th/early 17th Century image 2
A selection of poems from the Khamsa of Nizami, divided into 37 sections on different subjects, beginning with the praise of God and the Prophet and including subjects such as honesty, love, contentment and patience, copied by the scribe Mir Khalilullah Shah, better known as Padishah Qalam, in a contemporary gilt binding Safavid Persia, late 16th/early 17th Century image 3
Lot 248•

A selection of poems from the Khamsa of Nizami, divided into 37 sections on different subjects, beginning with the praise of God and the Prophet and including subjects such as honesty, love, contentment and patience, copied by the scribe Mir Khalilullah Shah, better known as Padishah Qalam, in a contemporary gilt binding
Safavid Persia, late 16th/early 17th Century

Amended
Islamic and Indian Art
23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £43,250 inc. premium

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A selection of poems from the Khamsa of Nizami, divided into 37 sections on different subjects, beginning with the praise of God and the Prophet and including subjects such as honesty, love, contentment and patience, copied by the scribe Mir Khalilullah Shah, better known as Padishah Qalam, in a contemporary gilt binding
Safavid Persia, late 16th/early 17th Century

Persian manuscript on coloured paper, 39 leaves, 11 lines to the page written in one or two columns of elegant nasta'liq script in black ink, double intercolumnar rules in gold, each page lavishly decorated with cloudbands and flowers in colours and gold, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, headings written in nasta'liq in blue within illuminated rectangular panels, one fine illuminated headpiece with outer borders of folios 1v-2r richly decorated with intertwining serrated leaves and stylised floral and vegetal motifs in gold and some colour, folios detached, possibly misbound, otherwise in good condition, contemporary black morocco binding, covers with stamped central rectangular gilt panels decorated with animals and birds amidst floral motifs, doublures exquisitely decorated with gilt filigree of animals, birds and floral motifs on blue and green grounds, small central areas damaged with loss of filigree decoration, with flap
245 x 143 mm.

Footnotes

The scribe, Mir Khaliullah Shah, was a Persian calligrapher from Mashhad, whom Shah Tahmasp met there and from whom he took lessons. He accompanied the Shah on his return to Qazvin. Later, he moved to the Deccan where he was highly respected by Ibrahim 'Adil Shah II in Bijapur. After having copied the Nawras composed by that ruler, he was titled Padshah Qalam in 1618. He died in 1625. See Mehdi Bayani, ahval va athar-e khosh-nevisan-e nasta'liq, vol. 1, 1345, pp. 177-9.

Saleroom notices

Please note that the text is probably incomplete.

Additional information