Mas̲navī-yi sharīf

Title:

Mas̲navī-yi sharīf
مثنوی شريف

Alternative title:

Mas̲navī
مثنوى

Creator:

Naʻmat Ḵẖān-i-ʻĀlī
نعمت خان عالى

Contributor:

Abdülhamid II, Sultan of the Turks, former owner
Muḥammad Fayyāḍ, former owner
ʻAbd al-Rashīd al-Daylamī, scribe
محمد فياض، مالك سابق
عبد الرشيد الديلمى، ناسخ

Date:

[1738 or 1739?].

Description:

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 362Origin: As appears in colophon on p.361, copied by ʻAbd al-Rashīd al-Daylamī [?] with transcription completed in 1151 [1738 or 9]. 1151 from 151, being the more likely reading (given the author's dates, decoration, hand, etc.) of what the copyist has entered as "١٠٥١" which initially suggests 1051 [1641 or 2]. A similar practice with numerals appears in the foliation (see fol.110-120 i.e. ١٠١٠ to ١٠٢٠ as entered in red ink). Date in seal impression provides very rough terminus ante quem of 1756.Accompanying materials: Half-sheet of writing paper with note in hand of G. Meredith-Owens, reads "362 | A mas̲navī poem of ethico-religious content. I cannot find the title and author but suspect that he is an Indian imitating Saʻdī and other Persian poets. Perhaps I could have a photostat of the first few folios. Indian, judging from the binding, probably 18th century."Former shelfmark: "119 T. De M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" in pencil on verso of front flyleaf.Binding: Pasteboards covered in brown leather ; Type III binding in Western style ; doublures in dark red leather with scalloped mandorla, lozenges, floral pendants) pendants and cornerpieces in stamped, gold-painted paper onlays filled with floral compositions and set off by gold-painted rules (both lozenges and floral pendants appended to mandorla) ; made endpapers in comb marbled paper (chiefly in red, orange, black and blue) pasted to outermost leaf of a gathering of three (ternion) ; upper and lower covers carry large, central rectangular panel in stamped, gold-painted paper onlays (applied to recessed leather) filled with symmetrical floral vegetal composition set among interlacing scallops and surrounded by gold-painted and tooled borders (series of annular stamps) setting off wide border (also in recessed leather onlays with stamped, gold-painted paper applied) with additional vegetal motifs ; board edges gold-tooled in scroling vegetal designs ; spine similarly gold-stamped with bands of scrolling vegetal designs alternating with diamond shapes ; sewn in white thread over two cords (apparent as ridges on spine and visible between back endpapers and text block), tightly bound ; worked endbands in pistachio green and pink (interspersed with metallic threads) ; overall in fairly good condition with some abrasion, lifting and losses of leather and onlays, etc.Support: non-European (likely Indian) laid paper with roughly 9 laid lines per cm. (horizontal, fairly distinct) and single chain lines occasionally visible, thin, crisp and transluscent though sturdy, well-burnished, dark cream to beige in color ; endpapers in still a different likely Indian laid paper with 7-8 laid lines per cm. (horizontal, distinct, curving) and no chain lines plainly visible, cloudy formation, many inclusions, sturdy, gray in color ; some staining and tide lines, ink burn (more extensive in some gatherings), minor pest damage, cockling and excess adhesive ; extensive repairs (fills, guards, etc.).Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening on p.2 consisting of rectangular piece with basmalah set off by gold cloud-bands and flanked by delicate vegetal designs on gold ground, surmounted by w-shaped piece in gold and light blue overlaid with delicate vegetal designs with floral accents (mainly in pink with orange-red outline, green and black) set in a heavy well of gold interlace, pistachio green, pink and blue bands ; bands of refined vegetal motifs in gold also accent written area on incipit page (p.2) ; written area throughout surrounded by gold frame with divisions within also defined by narrow gold bands outlined in black ; section headings rubricated.Script: Nastaʻlīq ; large, elegant hand in a medium to heavy line ; characteristically serifless with gentle effect of words descending to baseline, superscripting of letters, elongation and exaggerated thickness of horizontal strokes, pointing mainly in distinct dots, occasionally set very close together or conjoined, dramatically sweeping shaqq or sarkash on many kāfs, point of final nūn set just down in wide, slightly angled bowl.Layout: Written in 12 lines per page with written area divided to two columns ; frame-ruled.Collation: vi, 3 IV(24), III (30), 5 IV(70), III+2 (78), 6 IV(126), III+1 (133), IV (141), III+1 (148), IV (156), II (160), IV (168), II (172), IV+1 (181), vi ; chiefly quaternions ; middle of the quire marks in the form of faint, oblique black strokes in the upper outer margin of the right-hand leaf and lower outer margin of the left-hand leaf ; catchwords present (though occasionally lost or obscured by repairs) ; foliation in red ink, Hindu-Arabic numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during cataloguing.Colophon: "Scribal," rectangular, reads "مشقه العبد المذنب عبد الرشید الديلمی [؟] فی سنه ١٠٥١ه هجرة النبويه"Explicit: "معتبر بنود تعدد در صفات"Incipit: "حمد و شکر او را که هرچه هست ازوست دام هستی حلقه دار از های [و] هوست ..."Title from inscription on second front flyleaf.Ms. codex.Elegant copy of the short mas̲navī of Niʻmat Khān Shīrāzī, known as ʻĀlī (d.1710).

Language:

Persian

Type (Narrower):

Manuscripts

Type (Broader):

Text

Subject:

Manuscripts, Persian
Sufi poetry, Persian Early works to 1800.
Persian poetry Early works to 1800.
Masnavis, Persian Early works to 1800.

Extent:

181 leaves : paper ; 242 x 145 (178 x 86) mm. bound to 250 x 150 mm.

Rights:

Public Domain

Format:

Book
Manuscript/Archive
Online
Print

Same as:

https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/006818781

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