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Identification and Creation

Object Number
21.2015.2
Title
Frontispiece with a decorated sarlawh (blank recto; text verso of folio 2), from a manuscript of the Ruba‘yyat by ‘Umar Khayyam
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Manuscript of the Ruba‘yyat by ‘Umar Khayyam
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript folio
Date
1845
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Ottoman period
Culture
Ottoman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/368794

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, colors, and gold on paper
Dimensions
20 x 14 cm (7 7/8 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
21.2015.2
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The small manuscript of 72 folios opens with an illuminated European-style sarlawh featuring flowers and acanthus leaves. The text is written in Ottoman ta‘liq script. The preface in Ottoman Turkish is arranged in 17 lines to a page, and the verses 12 lines in two columns. Colored papers are used throughout the text. All the folios are decorated with horizontal bars in gold and blue/green separating the quatrains.
The manuscript is copied by Sayyid 'Abdi in 1261/1845. The green leather binding is gilded, and the doublure (inside cove is covered with blue paper with embossed patterns.

Related Works

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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