Catalogue: Belles Lettres
[Love poetry] (MS P 24, item 2)
This is an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry each page containing six quatrains, mostly written diagonally on the page. It is illustrated with full-page miniatures drawn in black ink with gilt and only a little color, usually blue shading or red accents. The illustrations are in a late Mughal style of manuscript painting.
The illustration on fol. 18b is signed 'the work of ('amal) Shaykh Muḥammad'. He is possibly the same as the painter of the same name who drew a portrait of the Mughal emperor Awrangzib (d. 1707), now in the British Library (OIOC, MS Or. 4566, fol. 1a).
Illustrations
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and tiny red accents. A woman sits on a tree while using a water-pipe and a female attendant stands behind. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. A sage sits under a tree while a woman and her attendant approach bearing a dish of good. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and tiny blue and red accents. A turbaned figure sits crosslegged on a tiger skin under a tree, with an attendant behind and two courtiers kneeling in front. The silhouette of a city can be seen on the horizon. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century. In the margin there is the impression of an oval owner's stamp which has the Arabic numeral 12 and appears to read ya' Karim.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. Four women stand under a tree, observing a bird in the tree top. Two small antelope look on from the lower right corner. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. A woman, with female attendant standing behind, accepts a gift or message from a male courier. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. Two women are sitting in front of bolster pillows, talking and drinking and attended by four attendants. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. A woman reclines on pillows and smokes a water-pipe, with an attendant standing behind with a fan, while she receives another woman in the foreground. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. One woman carries a large vase of flowers while another carries a glass container. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. An ascetic sits on a mountain side while pairs of animals (tigers, antelope, birds, and foxes) sit quietly around him. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. An elderly man lies prostrate on the ground, having dropped his turban and walking stick, while a woman (with attendant behind her) sprinkles water on his face. This drawing is signed 'the work of ('amal) Shaykh Muḥammad', who is possibly the same as the painter of the same name who drew a portrait of the Mughal emperor Awrangzib (d. 1707), now in the British Library. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. An ascetic stands holding a fish overhead and a second fish in his other hand, with the radiant sun prominent in the upper left corner. This drawing has been partially defaced. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. An elderly ascetic or sage sits under a tree while two women approach bearing gifts and a male attendant in the foreground reads from a book. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. A warrior figure bearing arms, a shield, and a leopard-skin turban, holds overhead with one arm a large devil. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
A full-page miniature drawing in black ink with gilt and blue and red accents. A man and a woman sit on a swing, partially embracing while two female attendants stand on either side. From an anonymous and untitled collection of Persian love poetry. The copy is undated, but the drawings are typical of provincial Mughal work of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
Physical Description
Persian. 12 leaves (fols. 11a-22b) Dimensions 21.7 x 14.5 (text area 15.1 x 8.7) cm; 8-12 lines per page. No author or title are provided.
The copy is undated and unsigned. The general appearance of the paper, ink, script, and illustrations suggests a date of the 18th century and a locale of north-west India, especially Kashmir.
The treatise is written in a fine professional medium-small ta‘liq script, in dense black ink with headings in red. The same hand transcribed all the items in the volume. All the folios have the text or illustrations framed in borders of blue, red, black, and gilt lines enclosing a vine with leaves outlined in red and green.
Each page contains six quatrains, mostly written diagonally on the page. It is illustrated with full-page miniatures drawn in black ink with gilt and only a little color, usually blue shading or red accents. The illustrations are in a late Mughal style of manuscript painting, and like the paintings accompanying the first item in the volume, they suggest a provincial workshop of north-west India, especially Kashmir, in the 18th century.
The illustration on fol. 18b is signed 'the work of ('amal) Shaykh Muḥammad'. He is possibly the same as the painter of the same name who drew a portrait of the Mughal emperor Awrangzib (d. 1707), now in the British Library (OIOC, MS Or. 4566, fol. 1a).
The gray-brown, semi-glossy paper has horizontal, sagging laid lines but no visible chain lines. The text areas has a gold-sprinkled ground. The paper has foxing and staining, and many leaves have been repaired. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. Fols. 1 and 2 are damaged and repaired and guarded.
The volume consists of 29 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank. MS P 24, item 1 (fols. 1b-10b) is Ladhdhat al-nisā’ by Ziyā’ [al-Dīn] Nakhshabī; item 2 (fols. 11a-22b) consists of the illustrated love poetry here catalogued; and MS P 24, item 3 (fols. 23a-27b) are recipes for increasing sexual pleasure. Fol. 28a has miscellaneous notes and verses in later hands written within the decorative frame. Fols. 28b, 29a and 29b are blank except for the decorative frame.
Binding
The volume is bound is a fine example of a 19th-century French art nouveau binding of stamped and dyed leather. It has an overall non-repetitive design of fans decorated with marine animals, birds, flowers, and Oriental human figures. There are French marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns.
Provenance
On fol. 14a there is the impression of an oval owner's stamp which has the Arabic numeral 12 and appears to read ya' Karīm. On fol. 21a there is an impression of a different oval owner's stamp, undated.
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda. No further information on provenance is available.
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry P24, p. 337. (This item not described)
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-136 no. 4
