Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Lot 7•,R
A manuscript incorporating verses from the Divan of Hafiz, and other poems attributed to him, a preface to his work, and other poems about Hafiz Persia, 17th Century
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £2,560 inc. premium
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A manuscript incorporating verses from the Divan of Hafiz, and other poems attributed to him, a preface to his work, and other poems about Hafiz
Persia, 17th Century
Persia, 17th Century
Persian manuscript on paper, 214 leaves, 15 lines to the page written in nasta'liq script in black ink in two columns, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, one illuminated double-page frontispiece in colours and gold with outer borders decorated with profuse floral motifs, two further double-page illuminated frontispieces, last two leaves later replacements, Qajar lacquer binding with front and rear covers depicting scenes with dervishes and youths, inner covers with floral motifs in gold on a red ground
218 x 125 mm.
218 x 125 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private UK collection since approximately the 1970s.
The manuscript starts with the preface to the Divan of Hafiz in prose and verse, though there are some odd inconsistencies in its copying. This preface is attributed to Shams al-Din Muhammad Gol Andam (mid-14th-early 15th Century), though some scholars have questioned this attribution, since no reference is made to it in his biography.
Then follows a mathnnavi in praise of Imam 'Ali, attributed to Hafiz (which does not however appear in his Divan).
Verses from the tarkib-band of Ibn Yamin (d. 1368), which do not mention Hafiz.
The second illuminated double-page is the opening to the Divan of Hafiz.
Extra poems attributed to Hafiz (not found in his Divan).
The last two pages bear couplets, consisting of lines from a ghazal of Sa'di between more couplets from the tarkib-band of Ibn Yamin.
Poems on Hafiz.
A note says that the ghazaliyyat of Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafiz Shirazi is completed.
It then includes poems from what is known as the Qata'at by Hafiz as well as his Mathnavis, and couplets from his Saqi-nameh and ruba'is, including a number attributed to him and not in the generally accepted edition of his Divan.
A note in the margin towards the end of the manuscript states that it was given by Mirza Hasan, and includes three couplets (poet unidentified), and is dated AH 1241/AD 1825-26. Another partially legible note on the same page reads: 'Written by the humble, Muhammad Ja'far [?] son of the deceased...'.
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