Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 161•
Muhammad bin Hasan al-Nawaji al-Masri, Diwan Nuzhat al-akhyar fi mahasin shu'ara' al-amsar, an anthology of Arabic poetry, vol. I only Near East, 16th Century or later
18 June 2013, 11:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge£600 - £800
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Muhammad bin Hasan al-Nawaji al-Masri, Diwan Nuzhat al-akhyar fi mahasin shu'ara' al-amsar, an anthology of Arabic poetry, vol. I only
Near East, 16th Century or later
Near East, 16th Century or later
Arabic manuscript on paper, 99 leaves, 18 lines to the page written in two columns of naskhi script in black ink with red dots between verses, headings with names of poets written in naskhi script in red ink, inner margins ruled in black, catchwords in wide outer borders, one illuminated rectangular headpiece in gold and some colour at beginning, edges frayed, discoloration, waterstaining mostly restricted to outer border, inner margins crudely repaired, colophon states that this first volume was completed on 6th Sha'ban in the city of Hajar by Hasan bin 'Ali al-Ihsa'i, modern aubergine-coloured leather gilt
200 x 125 mm.
200 x 125 mm.
Footnotes
An inscription on the last folio lists various ointments for the treatment of warts.
In the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, there is a Diwan by al-Nawaji (died AH 859/AD 1455) dated 28th Dhu'l Hijja 912/11th May 1507. Arberry states that there is no other copy recorded: therefore the present manuscript appears to be an early and rare copy written one hundred and thirty years after the author's death. See A. Arberry, A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, vol. IV, Dublin 1959, p. 59, 3921.