Harvard Art Museums > 26.2015: Illustrated Manuscript of the Divan of Shah Qasim Anvar Manuscripts Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Illustrated Manuscript of the Divan of Shah Qasim Anvar , 26.2015,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 19, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/352101. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 26.2015 Title Illustrated Manuscript of the Divan of Shah Qasim Anvar Classification Manuscripts Work Type manuscript Date 1490 and later additions Places Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Mashhad Period Timurid period Culture Persian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/352101 Physical Descriptions Medium Ink, colors, and gold on paper; leather binding Dimensions 30 x 20 cm (11 13/16 x 7 7/8 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 26.2015 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 an illuminated round medallion, without a dedicatory inscription. The beginning of the actual text page on the verso has an illuminated heading. The text panel on this page and the following pages are mounted on thicker, colored paper. Thus the gilded and decorated margins and the three paintings in the manuscript belong to Safavid and later periods. Several notes and seals on the first and last pages also acknowledge the history of the manuscript and its various owners. For example, an inscription on the first folio notes that the manuscript entered into the library of the Mughal emperor, Nur al-Din Jahangir b. Akbar Padishah, on his accession to the throne in 1014/1606. The dark brown leather binding has a stamped and gilded center and corner pieces. The inner covers are burgundy colored and stamped with a center piece decorated with birds. The author, Mu'in al-DIn Ali of Tabriz (1356-1433) known as Qasim-i Anvar was a well-known Sufi shaykh who had a large following in Herat but was suspected of collaborating with an assailant who stabbed the Timurid ruler Shahrukh and was thus banished from Herat. He composed a popular mathnavi and a divan of Sufi poetry. According to its colophon this manuscript was copied by Sultan Ali Mashhadi in the month of Shaban, 895 (June-July 1490). Sultan Ali Mashhadi (1442-1520) was a master calligrapher and a student of another famous calligrapher Mawlana Azhar (d. 1434) who was active in the Timurid ruler Shahrukh's court in Herat. 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
