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Walters Ms. W.607, Five poems (quintet)

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Shelf mark

W.607


Manuscript

Five poems (quintet)


Text title
Khamsah-i Niẓāmī

Vernacular: خمسه نظامي


Author

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

Supplied name: Ilyās ibn Yūsuf Niẓāmī Ganjavī

Name, in vernacular: الياس بن يوسف نظامي گنجوي

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


Abstract

This is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of four of the five poems that comprise the Khamsah (quintet) of Niẓāmī Ganjavī (d. 605 AH / 1209 CE). It does not include Laylá va Majnūn. The text was copied in black nastaʿlīq script by Yādkār the Calligrapher (al-Kātib) in 935 AH / 1529 CE. An illuminated double-page frontispiece opens the codex (fols. 1b-2a), and each poem is introduced with an illuminated headpiece (fols. 33b, 119b, 180b, and 261b). The twenty-seven illustrations appear to have been repainted in India during the twelfth or early thirteenth century AH / eighteenth or early nineteenth CE. The manuscript is bound in late Zand lacquer boards with figural scenes depicting Bahrām Gūr hunting and Khusraw watching Shīrīn bathing. The upper board illustrating Bahrām Gūr is dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE.


Date

934-5 AH / 1528-9 CE


Origin

Iran


Scribe

As-written name: Yādkār al-Kātib

Name, in vernacular: يادكار الكاتب


Form

Book


Genre

Literary -- Poetry


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.


Colophon
fol. 297a:
  1. Transliteration: al-ʿabd al-ḥājjī Yādkār al-Kātib /1/ ghafara dhunūbahu wa-satara /2/ ʿuyūbahu /3/ 903 [sic] /4/
  2. Comment: Records scribe's name and date; date appears to be forged

Support material

Paper

Cream-colored laid paper


Extent

Foliation: i+297+i


Collation

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos


Dimensions

18.0 cm wide by 30.0 cm high


Written surface

10.5 cm wide by 19.5 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 4
  2. Ruled lines: 21
  3. Framing lines in blue, red, green, gold, and black

Contents:
fols. 1b - 297a:
  1. Title: Khamsah-i Niẓāmī
  2. Author: Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 41-1202 or 3
  3. Scribe: Yādkār al-Kātib
  4. Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم هست كليد در كنج حكيم...
  5. Text note: Contains the following four poems: Makhzan al-asrār (fols. 1b-32a); Khusraw va Shīrīn (fols. 33b-118a); Haft paykar (fols. 119b-179a); and Iskandarnāmah (fols. 180b-297a); Layla va Majnūn missing
  6. Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script in black ink with section headings in red
  7. Decoration note: Twenty-seven illustrations; double-page illuminated frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a); four illuminated headpieces (fols. 33b, 119b, 180b, 261b); illuminated borders; framing lines in blue, red, green, gold, and black

Decoration:

Upper board outside:

  1. W.607, Upper board outside
  2. Title: Late Zand lacquer binding
  3. Form: Binding
  4. Label: This late Zand lacquer binding depicts Bahrām Gūr hunting and Fitnah carrying a cow on her shoulders. It is dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE. The lacquer boards were made in Iran during the Zand period.

fol. 1b:

  1. W.607, fol. 1b
  2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
  3. Form: Frontispiece
  4. Text: Makhzan-i asrār
  5. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece inscribed with the title of the first poem of the Khamsah, Makhzan-i asrār.

fol. 2a:

  1. W.607, fol. 2a
  2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
  3. Form: Frontispiece
  4. Text: Makhzan-i asrār
  5. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece inscribed with the title of the first poem of the Khamsah, Makhzan-i asrār.

fol. 4b:

  1. W.607, fol. 4b
  2. Title: The Prophet Muhammad's ascension
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Makhzān al-asrār
  5. Label: The Prophet Muhammad is depicted on Buraq, led by the angel Gabriel ascending to the heavens.

fol. 15a:

  1. W.607, fol. 15a
  2. Title: Nūshirvān and his prime minster Dastūr
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Makhzān al-asrār
  5. Label: Riding through a ruined village, the Sasanian Nūshirvān and his prime minster Dastūr see two owls talking.

fol. 17a:

  1. W.607, fol. 17a
  2. Title: An old woman implores Sultan Sanjar for help
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Makhzān al-asrār
  5. Label: An old woman approaches the throne of Sultan Sanjar to recount her oppression.

fol. 26a:

  1. W.607, fol. 26a
  2. Title: An old man brought before a tyrant
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Makhzān al-asrār

fol. 29b:

  1. W.607, fol. 29b
  2. Title: An old woman speaking with a confidant of King Jamshīd
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Makhzān al-asrār
  5. Label: At a court gathering, an old woman speaks with a confidant of King Jamshīd.

fol. 33b:

  1. W.607, fol. 33b
  2. Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece
  3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn
  5. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the second poem of the Khamsah, Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. 37a:

  1. W.607, fol. 37a
  2. Title: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad Atābak enthroned
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 45b:

  1. W.607, fol. 45b
  2. Title: Shāhpūr visiting Shīrīn
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn
  5. Label: Shāhpūr is shown before the Armenian princess Shīrīn at a court gathering.

fol. 62b:

  1. W.607, fol. 62b
  2. Title: Ascension of Khusraw to the throne
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 68a:

  1. W.607, fol. 68a
  2. Title: Khusraw and Shīrīn enthroned
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 78b:

  1. W.607, fol. 78b
  2. Title: Farhād carves an image of Shīrīn in rock
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 86a:

  1. W.607, fol. 86a
  2. Title: Khusraw announces his marriage to Shakar
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 93a:

  1. W.607, fol. 93a
  2. Title: Khusraw and Shīrīn in the palace
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 104b:

  1. W.607, fol. 104b
  2. Title: Reconciliation of Khusraw and Shīrīn
  3. Form: Illsutration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 110a:

  1. W.607, fol. 110a
  2. Title: Shīrūyah stabs Khusraw, his father
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 119b:

  1. W.607, fol. 119b
  2. Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece
  3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
  4. Text: Haft paykar
  5. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the fourth poem of the Khamsah, Haft paykar.

fol. 134b:

  1. W.607, fol. 134b
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr seizes the crown after having killed two lions
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 136b:

  1. W.607, fol. 136b
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr kills a wild ass
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 145b:

  1. W.607, fol. 145b
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the black pavilion
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 154a:

  1. W.607, fol. 154a
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the yellow pavilion
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 160a:

  1. W.607, fol. 160a
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the blue pavilion
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 165a:

  1. W.607, fol. 165a
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the sandalwood pavilion
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 168a:

  1. W.607, fol. 168a
  2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in the white pavilion
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Haft paykar

fol. 180b:

  1. W.607, fol. 180b
  2. Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece
  3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah
  5. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the Sharafnāmah, the first part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah, the Iskandarnāmah.

fol. 193b:

  1. W.607, fol. 193b
  2. Title: Alexander the Great fighting the Ethiopians
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 197b:

  1. W.607, fol. 197b
  2. Title: Victory of Alexander the Great over the Ethiopians
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 210b:

  1. W.607, fol. 210b
  2. Title: Death of King Darius
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 223b:

  1. W.607, fol. 223b
  2. Title: Alexander the Great admires his portrait ordered by Queen Nūshābah
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 258b:

  1. W.607, fol. 258b
  2. Title: Alexander the Great at the fountain of life with the prophets Khiḍr and Ilyās
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah
  5. Label: Alexander the Great (Iskandar) searches for the fountain of life and passes by a cave, before which sit the prophets Khiḍr and Ilyās.

fol. 261b:

  1. W.607, fol. 261b
  2. Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece
  3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah
  5. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the Iqbālnāmah, the second part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah, the Iskandarnāmah.

fol. 268b:

  1. W.607, fol. 268b
  2. Title: Aristotle teaching his students
  3. Form: Illustration
  4. Text: Iskandarnāmah

Lower board outside:

  1. W.607, Lower board outside
  2. Title: Late Zand lacquer binding
  3. Form: Binding
  4. Label: This late Zand lacquer binding depicts Khusraw watching Shīrīn bathing. It was made in Iran during the Zand period. (The upper board is dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE.)

Binding

The binding is not original.

Dates to the twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE; late Zand lacquer binding (without flap); upper board depicts Bahrām Gūr hunting and Fitnah carrying a cow on her shoulders, dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE; lower board depicts Khusraw watching Shīrīn bathing; red leather doublures have gold-painted decoration


Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest


Bibliography

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


Contributors

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


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.