Album leaf with a poem written in Nastaliq
India; 1640-1650
18/1987
18/1987
39 × 25,5 cm
Inventory number 18/1987
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.”
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.”
Mughal India
Firman issued by Alamgir Shah (Aurangzeb)
Miniature on cotton tabby from a copy of the Hamzanama. “Hamza Burns Zarthust’s Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes”
Miniature from a copy of the Tutinama. ‘A Young Woman Visited by the Sultan’s Viziers’
Miniature from a copy of the Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot). ‘The Sheikh with the Talking Parrot of Wood and the Mute Copy’