16.2015: Illustrated Manuscript of the Kulliyat (Complete Works) of Sa'di

Identification and Creation

Object Number

16.2015

Title

Illustrated Manuscript of the Kulliyat (Complete Works) of Sa'di

Classification

Manuscripts

Work Type

manuscript

Date

late 16th century

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz

Period

Safavid period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/352091

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Ink, colors, and gold on paper; gilt-stamped leather binding

Dimensions

22 x 14 cm (8 11/16 x 5 1/2 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

16.2015

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 a double-page frontispiece (ff. 2v-3r), each containing an illuminated roundel, providing the name of the poet and the titles of his collective works in this volume. The titles are written in riqāʿ script in white.
The text begins with a foreword marked with a richly illuminated sarlawh on f. 3v, in which the author, who names himself 'Alī b. Aḥmad b. Abū Nasr b. Bīstūn, describes the reason for copying the Kulliyyāt in the current order. The text is copied in nastaʿlīq script in two text panels: the main one with horizontal lines and a side panel with diagonal lines. The longer one is 16 horizontal lines to a page and the shorter one is 10 diagonal lines to a page on the side.
All the folios are remargined, including the two beginning roundels, which were mounted on paper at a later time.

There are 14 illuminated headings and 9 large size illustrations in Safavid style. Each section begins with a sarlawh or heading and ends with a colophon. The final colophon page is missing and replaced later.
The brown leather binding with a flap is decorated with cloud-band patterns on gilt-stamped centre and corners pieces and pendants on the outside cover. The inside covers in burgundy leather are decorated with filigree center and corner pieces and pendants over blue ground. On the flap spine there are three cartouches with floral decorations.

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  16.2015.2
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  Folio with an illuminated roundel (blank recto; illumination verso of folio 2), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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  Folio with an illuminated roundel and illuminated heading (illuminatied recto; illuminated heading verso of folio 3), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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  The Captain Throws the Slave into the Sea (painting recto; text verso of folio 41), painting from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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  Text folio with an illuminated heading (illuminated heading recto; text verso of folio 295), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
  Object Number
  16.2015.330
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  Text folio with an illuminated heading (text recto; text with an illuminated heading verso of folio 330), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di”.

  Classification
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• 
  Object Number
  16.2015.331
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  Text folio with an illuminated caption (text recto; text with an illuminated caption verso of folio 331), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
  Object Number
  16.2015.337
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  Text folio with an illuminated heading (text recto; text with an illuminated heading verso of folio 337), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
  Object Number
  16.2015.338
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  Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 338), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
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  16.2015.339
  Title

  Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 339), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
  Object Number
  16.2015.340
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  Text folio with an illuminated heading (text recto; text with an illuminated heading verso of folio 340), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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  16.2015.346
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• 
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  Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 347), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
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  Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 348), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

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• 
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  Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 349), from a manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di

  Classification
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Verification Level