Khosrow and Shirin [ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT WITH 8 EXQUISITE MINIATURES]
India: circa 1590. Contemporary morocco. Two parts, tall octavo (21.8 by 11.5 cm). Manuscript with polychrome illumination; approximately 420 leaves, text recto and verso. Persian text in black and red ink on polished cream paper. Opening and central 2-page illuminated compositions; main text in two columns, 15 lines per page; 8 half-page polychrome miniatures; 3 pages with modest additional polychome illumination. Contemporary brown morocco wallet binding (expertly rebacked); covers with central gilt floral palmette surrounded by two smaller gilt devices. Section at bottom opening unwan leaf excised (with skillful reparation), resulting in loss of two lines of text and marginalia; several leaves with skillful repairs to fore-edges. Light smudges and stains throughout, otherwise very good, with clean miniatures. Housed in custom clamshell box.
Epic poem by Nizami Ganjavi of Azerbaijan (1141–1209). Widely regarded as the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, Ganjavi brought a more colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. His heritage is widely appreciated throughout central Asia, especially Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan, and the Kurdish regions. Khosrow and Shirin is the second work of his set of five poems known collectively as Khamsa; it offers a fictionalized account of the love of Sasanian emperor Khosrow II Parviz (590-628), the last great monarch of pre-Islamic Iran, for his Christian queen consort, Shirin. The basic story is already found in Ferdawsi's epic Shahnameh, and throughout the works of many other Persian writers and popular folk tales.
Two full-page double suite compositions (Arab. 'unwan) with polychome ornamental headers and text within clouds on gilt background appear at the opening and again at the mid-way point of the work. The fifteen lines of the main text are situated within two sets of ruled borders: the first set in gilt and black tightly surrounds the text (13.5 by 6.5 cm); the second set in gilt, red and blue (18.5 by 9.5 cm) creates a space to surround the main text with commentary in black and red ink, penned diagonally. Breaks throughout the main text, ruled in red, contain divisional headings penned in red. The artist employs a wide palette of colors in the eight finely executed miniatures. Although illustrated in the style of late 16th-century Shiraz, the use of purples is unusual.
Provenance: Unidentified 20th-century bookplate at verso final leaf, along with portion of excised catalogue description, noting "Oriental... On Love." Remains of old paper library label at spine. Very good-. Item #55702
Price: $12,500.00