2014.395: A Manuscript of Zad al-Ma'ad by 'Allamah Majlesi

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.395

Title

A Manuscript of Zad al-Ma'ad by 'Allamah Majlesi

Classification

Manuscripts

Work Type

manuscript

Date

1696, 1862

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran

Period

Safavid period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351917

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer over metallic layer on pasteboard (covers) Ink, gold, and colors on paper (text)

Dimensions

20.3 × 13.2 × 3.7 cm (8 × 5 3/16 × 1 7/16 in.)
Text area: 15.4 × 8.7 cm (6 1/16 × 3 7/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription:
  Cover:
  
  راقمه اقل العبد لطفعلی الشیرازی ۱۲۷۹
  
  It was painted by the least of slaves Luft Ali Shirazi 1862-63
  
  اقل الحاج عبدالوهاب مذهب باشی ۱۳۰۰
  
  The lowliest Abd al-Vahhab, chief illuminator, [possibly] 1882-83

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2014.

Note:
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (1913-2014) formed this collection over a period of sixty years. She purchased the works of art on the international art market.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of A. Soudavar in memory of his mother Ezzat-Malek Soudavar

Accession Year

2014

Object Number

2014.395

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This copy of Zad al-Ma'ad by 'Allamah Majlesi opens with an illuminated frontispiece with a large illuminated sarlawh at the beginning of the text. It is copied in naskh script in 22 lines to a page in black ink. A large section of the text is translated into Persian after each line in nastaliq script in red ink. The last 17 folios are in Persian. The colophon includes the completion date of the book by the author, Ramadan 1107 H (April 1696) in Isfahan. The scribe signs his name Muhammad Hashim al-Lu'lu'i al-Isfahani, copied in 1130 H (1717).

The lacquer binding, which belongs to a later phase, is decorated with a bird perching on a rose branch. It is signed by the artist Lutf 'Ali Shirazi and dated 1279 (1862). The signature of `Abd al-Vahhab, Chief Illuminator, and the date1300 H (1882) is written minutely in the lower border. The inside covers are plain reddish-brown with gilded borders.

Publication History

• Massumeh Farhad and Mary McWilliams, ed., A Collector’s Passion: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar and Persian Lacquer, Harvard Art Museums and Freer/Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Cambridge, MA/Washington, D.C., 2017), p. 102, cat. 21

Verification Level