AN ILLUSTRATED MURAQQA’ ALBUM PAGE WITH NASTA'LIQ CALLIGRAPHY
Shiraz, Iran, 17th century

AN ILLUSTRATED MURAQQA’ ALBUM PAGE WITH NASTA'LIQ CALLIGRAPHY
Shiraz, Iran, 17th century

Persian manuscript, and opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the central illustration featuring a banqueting scene in a garden of prunus and cypress trees against a golden sky, the scene livened by courtiers seated next to a prince on a summer carpet, a young courtier holding a gold surahi ewer offering the prince a platter of fruit including pomegranates, within double bands of nasta’liq calligraphy in black ink, quoting Hekayat 11 of the second book of Sa’di’s Gulistan, framed by a band of Persian poetry, mostly the sonnets (ghazals) of Amir Shahi, including hemistiches from sonnet 11, the text in fine script against gold-reserved cloudbands, interspersed with black squares containing gold floral motifs, the band within friezes of gold scrolling repeats, at the top and bottom of the composition hemistiches 1 and 4 of Sa’di’s Ghazal 226 in a bolder pen, set within gold, black, blue, and red rules, laid on pale blue paper illuminated in gold floral designs, the text panel 23.5cm x 13.5cm, the folio 27.5cm x 17.5cm.

Dimensions: the text panel 23.5cm x 13.5cm, the folio 27.5cm x 17.5cm