Manuscript of the Tuhfat al-Ahrar (The Gift to the Noble) by Jami

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
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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 by the scribe 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

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