Walters Ms. W.653, Anthology of Persian poetry

W.653

Anthology of Persian poetry

Vernacular: منتخبات اشعار

This illuminated and illustrated anthology was compiled in 1105 AH / 1693 CE in Safavid Iran. The manuscript includes works by such poets as Jāmī, Azārī, Fayz̤ī, Navāʾī, and Saʿdī. The margins of colored and marbled paper are decorated with stenciled, illuminated, and painted motifs, including an angel, a young man reading a book, a youth pouring wine, and various animals. There are five paintings in the codex (fols. 8b, 16b, 17a, 19b, and 24b). The green leather binding is not original to the codex and probably dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.

Muḥarram 1105 AH / 1693 CE

Iran

Book

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

1. Transliteration: fī shar-i Muḥarram al-ḥarām /1/ 115 /2/
2. Translation: In the month of holy Muḥarram
3. Comment: Colophon erased except for the date, which appears to have been retouched or altered

Paper

Colored and marbled paper with stenciled, painted, and illuminated designs

Foliation: 32

Hindu-Arabic figures indicating thirty-three folios; statement on fol. 32b giving forty-four folios; codex misbound with a number of leaves missing

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

10.0 cm wide by 18.0 cm high

3.5 cm wide by 9.0 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 6
3. Written horizontally and obliquely; framing lines in orange, gold, blue, purple, and black

1. Title: Muntakhabāt-i ashʿār
2. Incipit: صلى على روضه خير الورى من هو طاوس رياض الهدى...
3. Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script in black ink
4. Decoration note: Illustrations; colored margins decorated with stenciled, painted, and illuminated designs; framing lines in orange, gold, blue, purple, and black

fol. 8b:

1. 
2. Title: Man seated in a landscape
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: A corpulent man sits in a stylized landscape dressed in the Safavid style. The salmon pink margins are stenciled with animal and floral forms. The catchword at the lower left indicates that the following folio is missing.

fol. 16b:

1. 
2. Title: Woman holding a vase of flowers in a landscape
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: A middle-aged woman stands in a landscape, holding a vase of flowers. The salmon pink margins are stenciled with animal and floral forms. The catchword at the lower left indicates that the following folio is missing.

fol. 17a:

1. 
2. Title: Seated man reading from a book of Persian poetry
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: A young man sits in a landscape reading a book of Persian poetry in the oblong format. The peach margins are decorated with another young man reading, another pouring wine, and an angel.

fol. 19b:

1. 
2. Title: Young man standing with pomegranate and book
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: A young man stands in a landscape with a pomegranate in his right hand and a closed book close to his cheek in his left hand. The cream and marbled margins are stenciled with animal and floral forms.

fol. 24b:

1. 
2. Title: Young man playing flute with singing bird perched in a blossoming tree
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Seated in a stylized landscape, a youth plays the flute while looking up at a singing bird perched in a tree. The buff-colored margins are decorated with a man reading a book, a youth pouring wine, and an angel.

fol. 32a:

1. 
2. Title: Illuminated colophon with two goats in combat
3. Form: Colophon; marginal decoration
4. Label: This colophon appears to have been partially erased, with only the following clearly legible: fī shar-i Muḥarram al-ḥarām 115 (in the month of holy Muḥarram 1105 AH / 1693 CE).

The binding is not original.

Probably dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE; green leather-covered boards with brown leather spine (no flap); marbled paper pastedowns

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.