Walters Ms. W.605, Five poems (quintet)

W.605

Five poems (quintet)

Kitāb-i Khamsah-i Shaykh-i Niẓāmī

Vernacular: كتاب خمسه شيخ نظامى

Authority name: Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 41-1202 or 3

Supplied name: Ilyās ibn Yūsuf Niẓāmī Ganjavī

Name, in vernacular: الياس بن يوسف نظامى گنجوى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 605 AH / 1209 CE

This copy of the Khamsah (quintet) of Niẓāmī Ganjavī (d. 605 AH / 1209 CE) was written by Abū Bakr Shāh ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Shahrastānī and illuminated by Jamāl al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī between 892 AH / 1486 CE and 900 AH / 1494-5 CE. The manuscript opens with a double-page illuminated frontispiece with an inscription giving the title of the work and the name of the author (fols. 1b-2a). There are four illuminated titlepieces with the names of the individual poems and twenty-six repainted illustrations. According to evidence supplied by the colophons, the original binding was by the hand of Jamāl al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī, as well. Unfortunately, it has not survived. The binding presently attached to the manuscript dates to the twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE.

892 AH / 1486 CE; another date of 900 AH / 1494-5 CE given on fol. 446a for the completion of the illuminations and binding

Iran

As-written name: Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī

Name, in vernacular: ﺠمال الدين محمد الصديقي الاصفهاني

Note: According to statements on fols. 210b, 314a, and 446a, Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī appears to be responsible for the chrysography, illumination, and binding, which has not survived in its original form.

As-written name: Abū Bakr Shāh ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Shahrastānī

Name, in vernacular: ابو بكر شاه بن حسن بن علي الشهرستاني

Note: Abū Bakr Shāh ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Shahrastānī is mentioned only in the three colophons (see fols. 42b, 119a, and 210b).

Book

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

fol. 119a:

1. Transliteration: Fol. 119a: qad faragha min taḥrīr hadhā kitāb [sic] al-laṭīf wa-hiya [sic] jild [sic] al-thānī min /1/ jumlat al-Khamsah al-musammá bi-hi [sic] Laylá wa-Majnūn min kalām shaykh al-muḥaqqiqīn /2/ qudwat al-ʿārifin zubdat al-sālikīn Shaykh Niẓāmī al-Kanjah /3/ ʿalayhi al-raḥmah wa-al-riḍwān wa-al-maghrifah wal-ghufrān al-ʿabd /4/ al-faqīr al-ḥaqīr al-ḍaʿīf al-muftaqir ilá raḥmat Allāh al-malik /5/ al-jānī Abū Bakr Shāh ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Sharastānī /6/ aḥsana Allāh aḥwālahu wa-ghafara lahu wa-li-wālidayhi wa-li-sāyir al-muʾminīn /7/ wa-al-muʾmināt wa-al-Muslimīn wa-al-Muslimāt fī ta<ʾ>rīkh sanat ithnayn /8/ wa-taisʿīn wa-thamānimiʾah al-hijrīyah al-nabawīyah al-muṣṭafawīyah /9/ wa-ṣallá Allāh ʿalá Muḥammad wa-ʿalá jamīʿ al-anbiyāʾ wa-al-mursalīn /10/ wa-ʿalá <ā>lih wa-aṣḥābih wa-azwājih ajmaʿīn /11/ al-ṭayyibīn wa-al-ṭāhirīn wa- /12/ al-ḥamd li-Llāh rabb al-ʿālamīn /13/ tamma /14/
2. Comment: Five colophons (42b, 119a, 210b, 314a, and 446a) in Arabic giving the names of the scribe, illuminator, and bookbinder; colophon on fol. 314a, written in gold tawqīʿ script below the frame, reads: katabahu wa-tazayyanahu wa-tajalladahu ʿalá yad al-faqīr al-ḥaqīr Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ak-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī; the same name, responsible for the illuminations, with the date 900 AH / 1494-5, given on fol. 446a

Paper

Laid paper

Foliation: i+446+i

Comments: A good number of folios (especially between fols. 90 and 180) either missing or misbound

16.0 cm wide by 23.0 cm high

10.5 cm wide by 17.5 cm high

1. Columns: 3
2. Ruled lines: 17
3. First column has the text written obliquely; frame-ruled

fols. 1b - 446a:

1. Title: Kitāb-i Khamsah-i Shaykh-i Niẓāmī
2. Author: Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 41-1202 or 3
3. Scribe: Abū Bakr Shāh ibn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Shahrastānī
4. Artist: Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīqī al-Iṣfahānī
5. Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم هست كليد در كنج حكيم...
6. Text note: Contains five poems: Makhzan al-asrār (fols. 1b-42b), Laylá va Majnūn (fols. 43b-119b), Haft paykar (fols. 120b-166b and 177a-210b), Khusraw va Shīrīn (fols. 167a-173a and 211b-314a), and Iskandarnāmah (fols. 315b-446a)
7. Hand note: Written in black nastaʿlīq script with captions in blue and gold
8. Decoration note: Twenty-six illustrations, most repainted later; double-page illuminated frontispiece with the inscription in gold thuluth script in four cartouches: Kitāb-i Khamsah-i (fol. 1a top), Shaykh-i Niẓāmī (fol. 1b top), ʿalayhi al-raḥmah (fol. 1a bottom), and wa-al-riḍwān (fol. 2b bottom); four titlepieces with the titles of individual poems (fols. 43b, 120b, 211b, and 315b)

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece
4. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece, which together with the left side contains the title and the author's name, written in gold thuluth script.

fol. 2a:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece
4. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece, which together with the right side contains the title and the author's name, written in gold thuluth script.

fol. 21b:

1. 
2. Title: King Nūshirvān hunting with Dastūr, his vizier
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Makhzan al-asrār

fol. 27b:

1. 
2. Title: King Farīdūn hunting deer
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Makhzan al-asrār

fol. 40a:

1. 
2. Title: An old man speaking with a king's confidant
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Makhzan al-asrār

fol. 61b:

1. 
2. Title: Laylá and Majnūn at school
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 66b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn brought to the Kaʿba in Mecca
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 68b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn visited by his father
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 73b:

1. 
2. Title: Laylá in a garden in the company of young women
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 75a:

1. 
2. Title: Nawfal, a friend of Majnūn, fighting with Laylá’s tribe
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 78b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn playing with wild animals
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 83b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn playing with wild animals
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 85a:

1. 
2. Title: Majūn and his father embracing in the wilderness
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 88b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn visiting his father’s tomb
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 90a:

1. 
2. Title: Khusraw and Farhād
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn
5. Label: This folio is misbound.

fol. 94b:

1. 
2. Title: Bahram Gūr in the green pavilion
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Haft paykar
5. Label: This folio is misbound.

fol. 97b:

1. 
2. Title: Salīm, a youth from Baghdad, visiting Majnūn
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 98a:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn meeting his mother in the presence of Salīm
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 100a:

1. 
2. Title: Laylá and Majnūn reunited in the wilderness
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 112b:

1. 
2. Title: Majnūn fainting at Laylá’s tomb
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Laylá va Majnūn

fol. 120b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece
3. Form: Incipit; titlepiece
4. Text: Haft paykar
5. Label: This illuminated incipit page has a titlepiece inscribed with the title of the poem, Kitāb-i Haft paykar, in gold ink.

fol. 137b:

1. 
2. Title: Bahrām Gūr killing a lion
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 138a:

1. 
2. Title: Bahrām Gūr killing a dragon
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 173b:

1. 
2. Title: Khusraw being told about Farhād’s love for Shīrīn
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 183a:

1. 
2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the blue pavilion
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 211b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece
3. Form: Incipit; titlepiece
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn
5. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the poem, Kitāb-i Khusraw va Shīrīn, in gold ink.

fol. 257a:

1. 
2. Title: Khusraw and Shīrīn enthroned in the presence of courtiers
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 258b:

1. 
2. Title: Farhād, the lover of Shīrīn, in the presence of the king’s messenger
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 277a:

1. 
2. Title: Khusraw asking pardon from Shīrīn
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 292a:

1. 
2. Title: Shīrīn meeting Khusraw
3. Form: Illustration
4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 315b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece
3. Form: Incipit; titlepiece
4. Text: Iskandarnāmah
5. Label: This illuminated incipit page has a titlepiece inscribed with the title of the poem, Kitāb-i Iskandarnāmah, in gold ink.

The binding is not original.

Probably dates to the twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE; brown leather (with flap); stamped, gold-brushed central ovals, pendants, and cornerpieces; marbled endpapers; first and last folios mounted

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Storey, C. A. Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2. (London: Luzac, 1927- ), 438-495.

Gacek, Adam. Persian Manuscripts in the Libraries of McGill University: Brief Union Catalogue. (Montreal: McGill University Libraries, 2005), no. 111.

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

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