Walters Ms. W.618, Collected works (Kulliyat)

W.618

Collected works (Kulliyat)

Vernacular: كليات سعدى

Authority name: Saʿdī

As-written name: Musharrif al-Dīn ibn Muṣliḥ Saʿdī Shīrāzī

Name, in vernacular: مشرف الدين بن مصلح سعدى شيرازى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 691 AH / 1292 CE

This is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of the collected works (Kulliyāt) of Saʿdī (d. 691 AH / 1292 CE). It was written by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaykh Murshid al-Kātib in the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE. The manuscript opens with an illuminated medallion (fol. 2a), followed by a double-page illustrated frontispeice (fols. 2b-3a) and a double-page illuminated frontispiece (fols. 3b-4a). The text is illustrated with seven additional paintings (fols. 18a, 31b, 49b, 70b, 88a, 101a, and 106b). The brown leather binding is incorrectly bound with the flap appearing on the right side instead of the left.

10th century AH / 16th CE

Iran

As-written name: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaykh Murshid al-Kātib

Name, in vernacular: عبد الله بن شيخ مرشد الكاتب

Book

Literary -- Poetry

Literary -- Prose

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Arabic.

2. Transliteration: tammat al-risālah al-mawsūmah /1/ bi-Naṣīḥat al-mulūk bi-ʿawn Allāh wa-tawfīqih wa-ṣallá Allāh ʿalá Muḥammad wa-ālih /2/ ʿalá yad al-ʿabd al-faqīral-mudhnib ʿAbd Allāh bn Shaykh Murshid al-Kātib /3/
3. Comment: In Arabic, giving only the name of the scribe

Paper

Laid paper; gold-sprinkled margins up to fol. 136a

Foliation: i+279+i

Catchwords: Written obliquely in a triangle at the end of the outer column/margin only

Comments:

16.5 cm wide by 26.5 cm high

9.5 cm wide by 17.0 cm high

1. Ruled lines: 13
2. Area within the frame from fol. 4b onwards consists of the main column and an outer column/margin inscribed obliquely; framing lines in blue, green, gold, and black

1. Title: Kullīyāt-i Saʿdī
2. Author: Saʿdī
3. Scribe: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaykh Murshid al-Kātib
4. Incipit: منت خدايرا عز وجل كه...
5. Text note: Consists of the following texts: Gulistān (fols. 4b-124a: main column); Būstān (fols. 4b-131a: outer column/margin, written obliquely; Risālah-i Naṣīḥat al-mulūk (fols. 124b-136a); Ghazaliyāt-i (fols. 131a-136a: outer column/margin; Tarjīʿāt (fols. 137b-140b): main text and in the margin; Ṭayyibāt (fols. 141b-209b); Badāyiʿ (fols. 210b-241a); Khavātīm (fols. 241b–?: folios out of order); Muqaṭṭaʿāt (fols. 255a-268a: folios out of order); Rubāʿīyāt (fols. 268a-272a); and Khabīs̱āt (fols. 272b-277b); folios 136b-137a, 141a, and 210a blank
6. Hand note: Written mainly in black nastaʿlīq script, with incidentals and titles/chapter headings in gold riqāʿ script
7. Decoration note: Seven illustrations (fols. 18a, 31b, 49b, 70b, 88a, 101a, and 106b); illuminated frontispiece with medallion (fol. 2a); double-page illustrated frontispiece (fols. 2b-3a); double-page illuminated frontispiece (fols. 3b-4a); illuminated incipit pages (fols. 4b, 124b, and 131a); illumination after fol. 136 not supplied; framing lines in blue, green, gold, and black

fol. 2a:

1. 
2. Title: Frontispiece with illuminated medallion
3. Form: Frontispiece; medallion

fol. 2b:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece; illustration
4. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting a banquet. The inscriptions contain honorific titles as well as poetic verses.

fol. 3a:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece; illustration
4. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting figures feasting outside and walking toward the banquet shown on the opposite side.

fol. 3b:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece; incipit
4. Text: Gulistān
5. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece introducing the text of the Gulistān.

fol. 4a:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece
3. Form: Frontispiece; incipit
4. Text: Gulistān
5. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece introducing the text of the Gulistān.

fol. 18a:

1. 
2. Title: A maid dipped in the sea as a cure for her fear of water
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 31b:

1. 
2. Title: A wrestling match
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 49b:

1. 
2. Title: A supposedly pious man
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This illustration depicts a supposedly pious man being fanned by an enslaved person and watched by a king who is surprised at his hypocrisy.

fol. 70b:

1. 
2. Title: A boy shoots an arrow through a ring placed on top of a dome and claims it
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 88a:

1. 
2. Title: A king finds a judge inebriated
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 101a:

1. 
2. Title: Saʿdī surrenders his arms to two Indian robbers
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 106b:

1. 
2. Title: Saʿdī and a dervish go to settle their quarrel before a judge
3. Form: Illustration

The binding is not original.

Largely attributable to the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE, with later additions; brown leather (incorrectly bound with the flap on the wrong side and folded back on itself); central lobed oval and pendants with gold-brushed scroll and floral design; blue outer margin

Invocation yā kabīkaj (fol. 1a)

List of books, by an anonymous owner, which were in his house in Tehran (fol. 1b)

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Copy 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

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.