Khamsah Niẓāmī, [1071, i.e. 1661].

880-01 Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 1141-1202 or 1203. · 1661

Niẓāmī's Khamsa (quintet) with Makhzan al-asrār, Khusraw va Shīrīn, Laylī and Majnūn, Haft Paykar, and Iskandarʹnāmah. Title from later inscription on first leaf. One chapter with colophon dated the middle jumada al-awwal AH 1071, final triangular colophon dated of rajab AH 1071 and with the signature of scribe Muhammad Husain ibn Ali. Layout: 25 lines per page, with written area divided to four columns by pairs of gold rules. Script: Nastaʻlīq ; elegant hand in a thin line. Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening of first section. 24 paintings in opaque pigments heightened with gold and silver, opening folio with gold and polychrome illustrated headpiece surmounting 12 lines of text; one similarly illuminated tazhib within the text; three unfinished spaces left for further illumination. Rubrications in red. Support: paper, lightly burnished, cream to beige in color ; some staining ; repairs (fills). Binding: Black shagreen with gold and polychrome stamped decoration and onlays, red morocco doublures with gilt and stamped central medallions. A few marginal annotations present in a later hand. Many paintings are signed Riza Abbasi. Abbasi died in 1635, suggesting that these paintings are copies of lost originals or, more likely, by a student of his. Condition: Many repairs to short tears. Some leaves remargined, not affecting text or paintings. Smudging to a few paintings. Most recent conservation performed by Helen Loveday circa 2016. Purchased from Sam Fogg on the William Edward Archer Fund, October 2021. ubgae.em. Inscription in Arabic at bottom right of colophon: "Owner, by merit, is Muhammad Mahdi Gudarzi, son of the late, may he be forgiven, Kalbaali, in the first ten of the month of Rajab of 116[?]. [Final character illegible: this decade corresponds to CE 1747-1757]. Qajar-era seals of several former owners present on first and final leaves. Sold at Christie's Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 20th October 2016, lot 41. Property of a private collection in Italy, 1965-2016.