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Identification and Creation

Object Number
9.2015
Title
Illustrated Manuscript of the Khamsa (Quintet) by Nizami
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript
Date
1489
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran
Period
Aq Qoyunlu period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/352084

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, colors, and gold on paper; leather binding
Dimensions
29 x 18 x 6 cm (11 7/16 x 7 1/16 x 2 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), loan; to Harvard Art Museums, 2015.

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, Loan from A. Soudavar in memory of his mother Ezzat-Malek Soudavar
Object Number
9.2015
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The manuscript opens with a double-page illuminated frontispiece. The text is copied in nastaʿliq script with 19 lines and four columns to a page. The manuscript includes 24 illustrations in the Turkman style. The first Colophon in f. 117r, at the end of the book of Khusraw and Shirin, provides the name of the scribe, Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Mas‘ud, known as Mun‘im al-Awhadi, and the date 16 Shaʿban 894 (15 July 1489). The second colophon on f. 181r at the end of the book of Layla and Majnun gives the scribe’s name and the date 12 Ramadan 894 (9 Aug 1489).

The codex contains 385 folios (including the last two replacements) and is incomplete.
Several notes and seals at the beginning have been obliterated. The notes in French on the first flyleaf indicate that the manuscript was owned by Basile B. Corpi in 19 June 1885 in Constantinople. The binding has dark brown grainy coarse leather on the outside cover, decorated with stamped pieces in gold and green, inlaid on the central lozenge, pendants and corner pieces, and light brown plain leather on the inside cover.

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu