Walters Ms. W.641, Selection of poems

W.641

Selection of poems

Vernacular: منتخب جامي

Authority name: Jāmī, 1414-1492

As-written name: Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad Jāmī

Name, in vernacular: نور الدين عبد الرحمان بن احمد جامى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 898 AH / 1492 CE

This manuscript is an illuminated Timurid copy of a selection of poems by Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898 AH / 1492 CE). The colophon indicates that it was copied in Herat (present-day Afghanistan) by Sulṭān ʿAlī in 899 AH / 1493-4 CE (fol. 70b). The manuscript opens with an illuminated incipit with an inscribed headpiece. The black leather binding, which is original to the manuscript, has a stamped central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces, which are all covered with cloudband motifs.The doublures of red leather with similar design are decorated with filigree work on a blue ground. There is an erased bequest (waqf) seal and registration statement, probably belonging to the Sultan ʿUthmān (reg. 1027-31 AH / 1618-22 CE) (fol. 1a).

899 AH / 1493-4 CE

Herat (present-day Afghanistan)

As-written name: Sulṭān ʿAlī

Name, in vernacular: سلطان علي

Book

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

1. Transliteration: qad faragha min taswīd h<ā>dh<ā> al-kitāb bi-ʿawn al-malik al-wahhāb aqall al-ʿibād /1/ Sulṭān ʿAlī tajāwaza Allāh ʿan sayyiā<ʾ>ātih fī shuhūr /2/ sanat tisʿ wa-tisʿīn wa-thamānimi<ʾ>ah /3/ bi-baldat Harāt /4/ m [=tamma] /5/
2. Comment: Written in Arabic; gives name of the scribe, as well as date and place of copying

Paper

Thick, well-polished, off-white paper

Foliation: iii+70+iii

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

11.5 cm wide by 17.0 cm high

7.0 cm wide by 11.0 cm high

1. Columns: 2
2. Ruled lines: 11
3. Framing lines in gold, black, and blue

1. Title: Muntakhab-i Jāmī
2. Author: Jāmī, 1414-1492
3. Scribe: Sulṭān ʿAlī
4. Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم اعلى حمد المنان الكريم ...
5. Text note: Apparently composed in 885 AH / 1480-1 CE (date given in a chronosticon at the end of the introduction on fol. 3a)
6. Hand note: Written in black nastaʿlīq script; illuminated headpiece written in New Abbasid (broken cursive) style; headings and incidentals written in red, gold, and blue
7. Decoration note: Illuminated headpiece inscribed Allāh wa-lā siwāhu in New Abbasid (broken cursive) style (fol. 1b); headings and incidentals in red, gold, and blue; framing lines in gold, black, and blue

Upper board outside:

1. 
2. Title: Binding
3. Form: Binding
4. Label: This black leather binding, which is original to the manuscript, has a stamped central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces, all covered with cloudband motifs.

Upper board inside:

1. 
2. Title: Doublure
3. Form: Doublure
4. Label: This red doublure, which is original to the manuscript, is decorated with a central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces decorated with filigree work on a blue ground. A strip of marbled paper is present at the hinge.

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated incipit with headpiece
3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
4. Label: This illuminated headpiece is inscribed Allāh wa-lā siwāhu in gold in the New Abbasid (broken cursive) style on a deep blue background. Incidentals are written in gold.

fol. 70b:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated colophon
3. Form: Colophon
4. Label: In this colophon the scribe Sulṭān ‘Alī indicates that the manuscript was completed in 899 AH / 1493-4 CE in the city of Herat, which is in present day Afghanistan. It reads as follows: qad faragha min taswīd h<ā>dh<ā> al-kitāb bi-ʿawn al-malik al-wahhāb aqall al-ʿibād /1/ Sulṭān ʿAlī tajāwaza Allāh ʿan sayyiā<ʾ>ātih fī shuhūr /2/ sanat tisʿ wa-tisʿīn wa-thamānimi<ʾ>ah /3/ bi-baldat Harāt /4/ m [=tamma] /5/

The binding is original.

Black leather binding (with flap); stamped central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces, all decorated with a cloudband motif; red doublures with central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces decorated with filigree work on a blue ground; strip of marbled paper at hinges

Name of scribe, date, and place of copying given in colophon (fol. 70b)

Erased bequest (waqf) seal and registration statement, probably belonging to Sultan ʿUthmān (reg. 1027-31 AH / 1618-22 CE) (fol. 1a)

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

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.