Walters Ms. W.671, Album of Persian miniatures and calligraphy

W.671

Album of Persian miniatures and calligraphy

Muraqqaʿ

Vernacular: مرقع

This album of painting and calligraphy was compiled in the late thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE or early fourteenth century AH / twentieth CE, most likely in Turkey. The signed pieces of calligraphy represent nine different Persian calligraphers, including Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī, Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Niʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī, Muḥammad Aṣghar, Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī, and Muḥammad Zamān. There are thirty-one paintings, the majority of which are executed in the Safavid style but are attributable to the late thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE or early fourteenth century AH / twentieth CE. They were most likely made in Turkey. The borders are polychrome and marbled gold-sprinkled paper. The brown leather binding decorated with landscape scenes and brushed with gold is contemporary with the compiling of the album.

10th century AH / 16th CE -- 14th century AH / 20th CE

Iran and Turkey

As-written name: Aqā Riz̤ā

Name, in vernacular: اقا رضا

As-written name: Muḥammad Ḥusayn

Name, in vernacular: محمد حسين

As-written name: Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī

Name, in vernacular: سلطان مراد الحسينى

As-written name: Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī

Name, in vernacular: سلطان على المشهدى

As-written name: Niʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī

Name, in vernacular: نعمت الله المشهدى

As-written name: Muḥammad Aṣghar

Name, in vernacular: محمد اصغر

As-written name: Muḥammad Zamān

Name, in vernacular: محمد زمان

As-written name: Mīr ʿAlī

Name, in vernacular: مير على

As-written name: ʿAlī

Name, in vernacular: على

As-written name: Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī

Name, in vernacular: شاه محمد المشهدى

Album

Historical

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

Paper

Mounted on pasteboard

Foliation: i+31+i

Two additional leaves housed seperately

24.5 cm wide by 35.5 cm high

fols. 1b - 33a:

1. Title: Muraqqaʿ
2. Scribes: Muḥammad Ḥusayn; Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī; Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī; Niʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī; Muḥammad Aṣghar; Muḥammad Zamān; Mīr ʿAlī; ʿAlī; Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī
3. Artist: Aqā Riz̤ā
4. Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script by Muḥammad Ḥusayn (fol. 2a), Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī (fol. 6a), Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī (fol. 10b), Niʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī (fol. 12a), Muḥammad Aṣghar (fols. 18b and 19b), Muḥammad Zamān (fol. 20b), Mīr ʿAlī (fol. 22a), ʿAlī (fol. 14b), and Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī (fol. 32b)
5. Decoration note: Thirty-one illustrations; borders of polychrome and marbled gold-sprinkled paper

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Bahrām Gūr rests on the lap of a princess in a cave
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 2a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and signed by Muḥammad Ḥusayn, whose name appears in the fourth register from the top.

fol. 2b:

1. 
2. Title: Serving wine by a stream of water
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 3a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script.

fol. 3b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated youth with a flask
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 4a:

1. 
2. Title: Seated young woman with a tray of pomegranates
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 5a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script.

fol. 5b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated woman with a tray of pomegranates
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 6a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script by Sulṭān Murād al-Ḥusaynī.

fol. 6b:

1. 
2. Title: Young woman standing
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 7b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated woman with pomegranates
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 8a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script.

fol. 8b:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth with a turban
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 9a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script.

fol. 9b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated youth with a wine pitcher and a cup in his hand
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 10a:

1. 
2. Title: Court scene
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 10b:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and signed by Sulṭān ʿAlī al-Mashhadī, dated 989 AH / 1581 CE.

fol. 11a:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 11b:

1. 
2. Title: Falconer kneeling in front of a seated prince
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 12a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script by Nuʿmat Allāh al-Mashhadī.

fol. 13a:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 14a:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 15a:

1. 
2. Title: Bird perching on a rock
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 16b:

1. 
2. Title: Youth with a bow and arrow
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 17a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and is from a manuscript of Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. 18a:

1. 
2. Title: Young woman reclining against a pillow
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 18b:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script by Muḥammad Aṣghar.

fol. 19a:

1. 
2. Title: Seated woman with pomegranates and a pitcher
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 20a:

1. 
2. Title: Youth seated on a rock
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 20b:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and is signed by Muḥammad Zamān.

fol. W.671.21a:

1. 
2. Title: The sculptor Farhād
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This is a drawing illustrating the story of Farhād, the sculptor, originally from Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. 22a:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and signed by Mīr ʿAlī.

fol. 22b:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth with a pitcher and cup
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 23b:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth with a wine flask in his hand
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 25a:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 26b:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This painting is inscribed Aghā Riz̤ā.

fol. 27b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated young woman holding a book
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 28b:

1. 
2. Title: Seated youth with a wine flask in his hand
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 29a:

1. 
2. Title: Standing youth with his hands crossed
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 30a:

1. 
2. Title: Youth with a wine flask reclining against a pillow
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 31a:

1. 
2. Title: Youth with a turban reclining against a cushion
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.671.32a:

1. 
2. Title: Shīrīn meets Farhād
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This is a drawing illustrating the story of Farhād, the sculptor, originally from Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. W.671.32b:

1. 
2. Title: Calligraphy page
3. Form: Calligraphy page
4. Label: This calligraphy page is written in nastaʿlīq script and is signed by Shāh Muḥammad al-Mashhadī.

fol. 33a:

1. 
2. Title: Man playing a stringed instrument in a landscape
3. Form: Illustration

The binding date is undetermined.

Contemporary with the compiling of the album; brown leather (with flap); decorated with a landscape scene brushed with gold; doublures of red leather, richly decorated with floral motifs

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.