* A GROUP OF NINE LOOSE MURAQQA FOLIOS WITH NASTA’LIQ CALLIGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONS
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Iran, mid to late 19th century

Persian manuscripts and calligraphy on paper, with ink, pigments, and gold, all but one laid on album board, all different in size, the largest in an elegant script with a quote from Imam Ja’far Sadeq, the sixth Shi'a Imam, comparing a just ruler to a merciful father, and praying for the long life of the ruler by the glory of the Prophet and his family, in cloudbands against a gold ground, on red board, varnished, 46cm x 31.5cm including the support; a folio of mashq in diagonals, with floral illumination within gold spacer bands, in purple, green, and pink borders applied with gilt scrolling motifs, 39.5cm x 26.5cm including the support; a half-line of poetry within illuminated bands around an ivory ground, the taupe border with an elaborate gilt scrolling band, 18.5cm x 28.5cm, 30cm x 40cm including the mount; a folio in diagonal script with interlinear musings by the calligrapher in shikasteh script, identifying himself as a pupil of Mirza Mohammad Mahdi, and dated 1286AH (1869) in polychrome scrolling border; five lines on the supremacy of wisdom over blind imitation, in fine gold cloud bands; one line of poetry from a popular quatrain against gold ground, the purple border with large scrolling saz leaves in gold; a folio of poetry in Turkish in diagonal lines, inscribed Imad al Hasani; a religious text with Sura 27, Al Imran (3) in naskh script in black ink, Persian translations and interpretive poetry in red and black, post-reading instructions in shikasteh; and lastly, a loose folio from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, in four columns, the killing of Nastihan by Bijan at The Battle of Twelve Rokhs, 26.5cm x 14.5cm.