SIGNED RUSTAM 'ALI, PROBABLY HERAT, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED AH 947/1540-41 AD

Details

NUR AL-DIN 'ABD AL-RAHMAN JAMI (D. AH 898/1492 AD): TUHFAT AL-AHRAR
SIGNED RUSTAM 'ALI, PROBABLY HERAT, SAFAVID IRAN, DATED AH 947/1540-41 AD
Persian manuscript on paper, 64ff. plus 2 fly-leaves, each folio with 12ll. of black nasta'liq divided in two columns with double gold ruled intercolumnar divisions, within gold and polychrome rules, headings in white nasta'liq on gold ground, the text on cloud-bands reserved on hatched red ground, opening bifolio with carpet illumination in gold and polychrome framing two 8ll. text panels, the margins with reserved floral arabesques on light pink ground, now mostly faded, staining and repairs throughout, three contemporary gouache miniatures, very minor repainting, in later brown morocco with stamped medallions
Text panel 5½ x 3in. (14.1 x 7.7cm.); folio 10¼ x 6 1/8in. (25.8 x 14.5cm.)

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Lot Essay

The miniatures depict:

1)The Mi'raj of the Prophet Muhammad
2)The first discourse of the youth with the Pir
3)The rescued tortoise who spoke too early and lost his life

Mehdi Bayani records two Rustam 'Alis, a Khurasani and a Shahi, and considers them as possibly two different scribes. Rustam 'Ali Khurasani, a nephew of the painter Behzad and a pupil of Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi, worked for the library of Bahram Mirza in Herat and Ibrahim Mirza in Mashhad. No dated work by him is recorded. (Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. I, Tehran, 1345 sh., pp. 207-9; V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters, 1959, p. 147)
Rustam 'Ali Shahi copied a Gulistan of Sa'di (Sotheby's, 28 April 2004, lot 30), dated AH 950/1543-4 AD, which is his only recorded dated work.

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