English: TWO FOLIOS FROM THE MAKHZAN AL-ASRAR OF NIZAMI WITH ILLUMINATED AND ILLUSTRATED BORDERS

COMMISSIONED FOR SHAH DURAQ USTAJLU, THE MARGINS SIGNED HASAN 'ALI AL-KATIB, SAFAVID HERAT, CIRCA 1522

Persian manuscript on paper, each folio with 11ll. of black nasta'liq arranged in two columns on gold-flecked paper, within gold and polychrome rules, headings in blue nasta'liq within gold and polychrome illuminated panels, each folio laid down within polychrome borders decorated with floral scrolls, calligraphic cartouches and gold and polychrome illuminated figural and animal cartouches, both inner margins of one folio signed Hasan 'Ali al-Katib, the other with the name of the patron Shah Duraq Ustajlu Text panel 5 1/4 x 3in. (13.5 x 7.4cm.); folio 10 3/8 x 6 3/4in. (26.5 x 17cm.)

These folios come from an important Makhzan al-Asrar manuscript, from which four unsigned folios are in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Glenn D. Lowry and Milo C. Beach, An Annotated And Illustrated Checklist Of The Vever Collection, Washington, 1990, p.232, nos. 261-264). Further folios from this same manuscript were sold in these Rooms 26 April 2012, lot 30, and 28 October 2021, lot 27. Through these three lots, a clearer picture has emerged of the original manuscript. A note on the first lot, signed by a certain Muhammad Amin, allowed the manuscript to be dated to AH 929/1522-23 AD. The second lot revealed the place of production to be Herat, and while one folio was signed by Muhammad al-Katib (likely the same person as Muhammad Amin), most were signed by Hasan ‘Ali al-Katib, indicating that at least two artists had a hand in the manuscript. Signed by Hasan ‘Ali, these folios are the most recent part of this manuscript to come to light.

Stylistic as well as codicological evidence suggests that these folios belonged to one manuscript. All the margins share similar waq-waq motifs, drawn in gold ink on dyed paper. The cartouches are also stylistically close to one another, and contain a mixture of opaque-pigment figures – often musicians or angels – and gold-ink animals. This aesthetic is also shared by a further eight folios in the Chester Beatty Library, three from Jami’s Sulayman wa Absal and five from his Subhat al-Abrar, which have very similar marginal decoration. The Chester Beatty folios, together which the Makhzan al-Asrar manuscript from which the present lot was taken, may have all come from the library of Shah Duraq Ustajlu.

Biographical information about the patron is lacking, though judging from his name it is likely that he was part of the Turkoman Ustajlu tribe, a part of the Qizilbash coalition whose support brought Shah Isma’il I (r. 1501-24) to power. The Ustajlu occupied important military and state offices throughout the sixteenth century: Muhammad Khan Ustajlu died fighting at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, while in 1568 Shah-Quli Sultan Ustajlu, governor of Yerevan province, led an embassy to Edirne to congratulate Selim III on his accession and present him with the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp (R. Mathee, ‘The Ottoman Safavid War of 986-998/1578-90’, Ankara, 2004, p. 8). Even as they influenced the development of the Safavid state, these folios attest to the contribution made by Qizilbash patrons to the emerging Safavid aesthetic.