Album leaf with a poem written in Nastaliq

The distinctive combination of Persian poetry, the Nastaliq script, and the minutely detailed floral decorations is characteristic of the calligraphy collections of the great Mughals. Shah Jahan (1627-1656), in particular, was an enthusiastic collector of art of this type.

This leaf, which is known to come from an album from the Mughals’ court library in Delhi (c. 1640-1660), is a tribute to the calligrapher and Sufi Sultan al-Bukhari. “To our master Sultan al-Bukhari / Not in every mountain does one find the ruby from Badakhshan / not in every sea are pearls and corals found / not all beggars are like a sultan / to be Sultan al-Bukhari is not the lot of just anyone at all.”