Walters Ms. W.628, Collection of poems (divan)

W.628

Collection of poems (divan)

Vernacular: ديوان حافظ

Authority name: Ḥāfiẓ, 14th cent.

As-written name: Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiz al-Shīrāzī

Name, in vernacular: شمس الدين محمد حافظ الشيرازى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: fl. 8th century AH / 14th CE

This is an illuminated and illustrated manuscript copy of the Collection of poems (dīvān) by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiz al-Shīrāzī (fl. eighth century AH / fourteenth CE). It was written in black nasta‘līq script with chapter/section headings in gold ink by Zayn al-‘Ābidīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī in 918 AH / 1512 CE in Safavid Iran. The manuscript opens with an illuminated medallion (fol. 1a), followed by a double-page illustrated frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a). The text begins with an incipit page with illuminated headpiece (fol. 2b). There are three additional illustrations (fols. 24a, 49b, and 87a). The red leather binding, which is not original and may be attributed to late twelfth-century AH / eighteenth CE or thirteenth-century AH / nineteenth CE Turkey, has a scalloped medallion with gold-tooled decoration and borders.

Shaʿbān 918 AH / 1512 CE

Iran

As-written name: Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī

Name, in vernacular: زين العابدين عبد الرحمان الجامي

Book

Literary -- Poetry

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

1. Transliteration: tamma al-kitāb bi-ʿawn al-Malik al-Wahhāb ʿalá yad al-ʿabd al-faqīr /1/ Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Jāmī tāba Allāh ʿalayhi wa-ghafara lahu /2/ wa-liwālidayhi fī Shaʿbān al-muʿaẓẓam al-muṭanazzim /3/ fī shuhūr sanat thamān ʿashar /4/ wa-tisʿimi<ʾ>ah hijriyah /5/ m (= tamma) /6/
2. Comment: In Arabic; gives name of scribe and date of copying

Paper

Brown laid paper, probably Persian

Foliation: ii+156+ii

Earlier foliation in Hindu-Arabic numerals, often trimmed

Catchwords: Written on versos, often trimmed

13.5 cm wide by 21.5 cm high

7.5 cm wide by 15.5 cm high

1. Columns: 2
2. Ruled lines: 17
3. Framing lines in blue, gold, green, and black

1. Title: Dīvān-i Ḥāfiẓ
2. Author: Ḥāfiẓ, 14th cent.
3. Scribe: Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī
4. Incipit: الا يا ايها الساقى ادر كاسا وناولها...
5. Hand note: Written in black nastaʿlīq script
6. Decoration note: Three illustrations (fols. 24a, 49b, and 87b); double-page illustrated frontispiece (fols. 2b-3a); illuminated medallion (fol. 1a); incipit page with illuminated headpiece (fol. 3b); chapter/section headings in gold ink on floral polychrome ground; framing lines in blue, gold, green, and black

fol. 1a:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated frontispiece with medallion
3. Form: Frontispiece
4. Label: This frontispiece is decorated with a round illuminated medallion (shamsah), decorated in blue, red, and gold designs.

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting a court scene
3. Form: Illustration; frontispiece
4. Label: This is the right side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece showing a pavilion reception between a princely figure, a female companion, and attendants. The inscription running along the top is a Persian couplet. There has been some damage and repainting to this illustration.

fol. 2a:

1. 
2. Title: Double-page illustrated frontispiece depicting a court scene
3. Form: Illustration; frontispiece
4. Label: This is the left side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece, showing a falconer and four other attendants waiting in an outside courtyard.

fol. 2b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page with illuminated headpiece
3. Form: Incipit; headpiece

fol. 24a:

1. 
2. Title: Outdoor reception
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This illustration depicts an outdoor gathering (majlis), with figures engaged in playing music and drinking. One is so inebriated he is being held upright.

fol. 49b:

1. 
2. Title: Sufis performing sama
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This illustration shows Sufis participating in musical ceremonies, known as sama (hearing or listening).

fol. 87a:

1. 
2. Title: Lovers by a stream
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: A couple sits near a brook in the company of ladies of the court. The couplet above refers to love and longing.

The binding is not original.

Attributable to late twelfth-century AH / eighteenth CE or thirteenth-century AH / nineteenth CE Turkey; red leather with scalloped medallion; gold-tooled decoration and borders

Ex libris Henry Walters (upper board inside)

Grube, Ernst J., and Alberta Maria Fabris. Muslim Miniature Paintings from the XIII to XIX Century from Collections in the United States and Canada: Catalogue of the Exhibition. (Venezia: Pozza, 1962), 80-1.

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

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.