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Lot Essay
This manuscript contains Volume I of the World History covering the history of the Mongols up to, but not including, Uljaytu. It finishes with Ghazan Khan, Rashid al-Din's patron. Several other copies of the Jami' al-Tavarikh in Persian exist in libraries around the world, dating from the 14th to the 19th century. The earliest, apart fromt he famous Khalili/Edinburgh University Library copy made for the author, is probably that in the Topkapi Library dated 1317 which also comprises the first volume. The present manuscript is comparable to two known copies of similar date: British Library Add. 7628 volumes I and II of the work (Rieu, p. 74) copied for Shah Rukh in circa 837/1433 and more particularly another manuscript in the British Library, Add. 16,688 (Rieu, p, 78-9) dating from the 14th century. This last is a reduced version of the present manuscript, but has the same inscription at the end as here, in other words by a person calling himself the servant of His Highness, Muhammad ibn Hamza, known as Rashidi Khwafi. In the British Museum catalogue of 1879, it appears that the name has been misread as Rashid-e khwani (reader) rather than the as Khwafi (from Khwaf).
This manuscript would appear to date to the first half of the 15th century, based on the illuminated heading on the first folio, typical of the Herat style of circa 1425. It is written on good quality Persian paper dateable to the first half of the 15th century made on a grass mould with 8-9 laid lines per cm. It has a slightly curious feature of two distinct rib shadows on each page, an unusual feature for Persian paper.
While the manuscript is not illustrated, it was clearly the intention that it should be. Many spaces have been left for illustrations, such as folio 64b-65a where a double page has been left blank beneath the rubric in red naskh which reads Picture of Yesügey Khan (the father of Chingiz Khan) and his wife and children and a smaller space on folio 69a with the rubric Picture of Chingiz Khan, his wife and children. Elsewhere, the text has been written for a family tree; it is possible to see where circles have been ruled in order to draw the tree, but the illumination has never been undertaken.
The text is in more than one hand; a beautifully clear naskh for the bulk of the text and a more spidery hand which verges on nasta'liq. On these folios, the gold used for the titles has been replaced by yellow. However, the paper is the same, and this section would appear to be contemporary with the rest of the manuscript.
There are a number of library inscriptions on the opening flyleaf; the earliest clear date is 25 Sha'ban 952/1 November 1545 which is added after a Persian quatrain in praise of 'Ali. A round seal of 'Hidayatullah al-Husayni' is found throughout the manuscript. A further note identifies the owner as '(one) of the possessions of the most humble servant (of God), 'Abd al-Wahhab. His eight-sided seal with the legend ya wahhab al-karim is dated 990/1582-3 or 995/1586-7. After this time the manuscript appears to have left private ownership and to have entered a royal library. The following three inscriptions are found: 'It was inspected in the Imperial treasury in Jumada I, 1017 August/September 1608; The book of jami' al-tavarikh in large size on Samarkandi paper was inspected in the Imperial treasury in 1064 (1653-4); It was inspected in the Imperial Treasury in 1097/(1685-6)'.
Bibilography
Blair, S.: A compendium of chronicles, Oxford, 1995
Rieu, Charles: Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, 1966, pp. 74-78.
This manuscript would appear to date to the first half of the 15th century, based on the illuminated heading on the first folio, typical of the Herat style of circa 1425. It is written on good quality Persian paper dateable to the first half of the 15th century made on a grass mould with 8-9 laid lines per cm. It has a slightly curious feature of two distinct rib shadows on each page, an unusual feature for Persian paper.
While the manuscript is not illustrated, it was clearly the intention that it should be. Many spaces have been left for illustrations, such as folio 64b-65a where a double page has been left blank beneath the rubric in red naskh which reads Picture of Yesügey Khan (the father of Chingiz Khan) and his wife and children and a smaller space on folio 69a with the rubric Picture of Chingiz Khan, his wife and children. Elsewhere, the text has been written for a family tree; it is possible to see where circles have been ruled in order to draw the tree, but the illumination has never been undertaken.
The text is in more than one hand; a beautifully clear naskh for the bulk of the text and a more spidery hand which verges on nasta'liq. On these folios, the gold used for the titles has been replaced by yellow. However, the paper is the same, and this section would appear to be contemporary with the rest of the manuscript.
There are a number of library inscriptions on the opening flyleaf; the earliest clear date is 25 Sha'ban 952/1 November 1545 which is added after a Persian quatrain in praise of 'Ali. A round seal of 'Hidayatullah al-Husayni' is found throughout the manuscript. A further note identifies the owner as '(one) of the possessions of the most humble servant (of God), 'Abd al-Wahhab. His eight-sided seal with the legend ya wahhab al-karim is dated 990/1582-3 or 995/1586-7. After this time the manuscript appears to have left private ownership and to have entered a royal library. The following three inscriptions are found: 'It was inspected in the Imperial treasury in Jumada I, 1017 August/September 1608; The book of jami' al-tavarikh in large size on Samarkandi paper was inspected in the Imperial treasury in 1064 (1653-4); It was inspected in the Imperial Treasury in 1097/(1685-6)'.
Bibilography
Blair, S.: A compendium of chronicles, Oxford, 1995
Rieu, Charles: Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, 1966, pp. 74-78.