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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2019.106
Title
Manuscript of the Tuhfat al-Ahrar (The Gift to the Noble) by Jami
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript
Date
1540-1541
Places
Creation Place: Central Asia, Afghanistan, Herat
Period
Safavid period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/356287

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, colors, and gold on gold-sprinkled paper; marbled paper margins Brown leather binding, stamped, gilt, and painted
Dimensions
Cover: 22.3 × 14.0 cm (8 7/8 x 5 ½ in.)
Folio: 22.0 × 14.0 cm (8 5/8 x 5 ½ in.)
Text panel: 9.0 – 7.5 × 13.0 – 12.8 cm (5 – 5 1/8 x 3 – 3 3/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection, California (by 1986 - 2016), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2019.

NOTE:
Stored at the San Diego Museum of Art from some time before 1986 until 1991, then at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1991-2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums
Accession Year
2019
Object Number
2019.106
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The cover of this manuscript is dark brown leather with embossed stamped center- and corner-pieces, with flowers painted in various colors on a gold ground. The inside cover is a glossy marbled paper pasted onto cardboard, framed and etched with a fine gold tooling.

The support of the text panels is well-burnished paper, sprinkled with finely grained gold and ruled in two gold and one blue lines. The text is written in a beautiful nastaʿlīq script in Herat in H. 947/1540-41 by the scribe and illuminator Sultan Husayn ibn Jamshid and arranged in 12 lines and two columns to a page. It is punctuated with diversely illuminated headings carrying arabesque vines and floral motifs in various colors. The double-page frontispiece is exquisitely illuminated with very fine arabesque and palmette patterns in gold and deep lapis blue. The frontispiece is mounted on plain dull red paper, and the rest of the folios have marbled paper margins, except for the final folio (f. 86r, the colophon page). The visually riveting design of the marbled margins consists of combed patterns in a wide spectrum of colors.

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