2014.403: Manuscript of the Farmayishat-i Hazrat `Ali (Commands of Imam `Ali), with lacquer binding

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2014.403

Title

Manuscript of the Farmayishat-i Hazrat `Ali (Commands of Imam `Ali), with lacquer binding

Classification

Manuscripts

Work Type

manuscript

Date

1864

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran

Period

Qajar period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/351918

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Watercolor, gold-colored pigments, platy hematite particles, and lacquer on pasteboard (covers) Ink, gold, and colors on paper (text)

Dimensions

29.8 × 18.8 × 1.6 cm (11 3/4 × 7 3/8 × 5/8 in.)
Text area: 19.8 × 10.5 cm (7 13/16 × 4 1/8 in.)

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

2014.403

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

The manuscript opens with an illuminated heading. The Arabic text is copied in black ink in naskh script with interlinear translation in Persian in nastaliq script in red ink. It ends with four lines of thuluth text praising the Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah followed by the copyist's name and date, Ahmad al Shirazi al-Mutakhallis bi'l-Vaqar, 1281 (1864-65). The lacquer binding has a floating bouquet of mixed flowers on the outside. The inner covers are decorated with a central medallion and pendants filled with flowers set against a red ground filled with a floral arabesque in gold.

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. 103, cat. 23

Verification Level