Saadi (1210-1291) Folio from book 2, Bustan (The Orchard, completed 1257), with four miniatures

Saadi (1210-1291) Poetry folio from book 2, Bustan (The Orchard, completed 1257), with four miniatures, mostly Iran, 18th and 19th century

Persian manuscript on Italian laid paper, watermarked Bellando, 16ll. to the page, in black nasta’liq script, headings in red, the central panel in two columns of hemistiches, the marginal hemistiches in diagonals, in black and gold rules, catchword, the text panel 19.8cm x 9.6cm, the folio 28.8cm x 17.5cm;

with: An Indian miniature folio in opaque polychromes and metallic highlights, depicting a feasting encampment, the painting recent on repurposed older paper with unrelated Urdu script above and below, in gold-coloured mount, framed and glazed, the text panel 22cm x 14cm, 36.2cm x 26.5cm including frame; A pair of miniatures numbered 2 and 3 Persian, in opaque polychromes on paper from a late 18th century provincial Persian manuscript, one depicting an enthroned king in a floral setting, attended by courtiers and a tar player by a stream, framed and glazed, the panel 20cm x 11cm, 27.2cm x 16.7cm including frame, the other depicting debating scholars by a garden pavilion, the panel 19.7cm x 10.5cm, 24.3cm x 15cm including frame; and: A 19th century revivalist miniature of a young Safavid prince attended by riding companions, in conversation with a sage kneeling in a floral landscape, mounted and glazed, the folio 19.5cm x 16.7cm, 25.7cm x 20cm, including frame; and a Japanese woodblock print, marked Kiyonaga, later printing (6)