Detail View: Rylands Collection:

Image Number: 
Bookreader PersianMS_856
Reference Number: 
Persian MS 856
Link to Catalogue: 
Parent Work Title: 
Khamsa (Quintet)
Date Created: 
16th century
Description: 
Illustrated manuscript of the Khamsa (five poems) of Nizami Ganjavi. 222 ff. (small pencil foliation: there is also one in ink, in Persian, which breaks of at 226, and a rough and clumsy European pagination reaching 440). Nineteenth century oriental binding of red leather (rebacked) with medallions and pendants inlaid with gilt paper. Pencil note on a front fly-leaf gives the price £14.14s. Good nasta'liq in 4 columns of 20 lines to the page. Gold-dusted written surface 190 mm x 108 mm. Very richly illuminated double title-page, ff 1b, 2a, but somewhat damaged and the edges trimmed. Illuminated headings of great richness on ff 40b, 94b, 144b, 192b. A completely uninformative colophon on f 222a and others at the end of each poem. The text is defective in several places and some pages with miniatures have been removed. The manuscript at present contains 16 miniature (there must originally have been about 25) in good condition for the most part and excellent examples of the Shiraz style of c. 1575. The painter's touch is sure and delicate.
Keyword: 
Persian literature; Persian poetry; Epic poetry; Miniatures; Illuminations; Shiraz style
Language Code: 
per
Language: 
Persian
Subject: 
Persian literature
Subject: 
Persian poetry
Subject: 
Epic poetry
Category of Material: 
Manuscripts
Sub-Category: 
Codex
Sub-Category: 
Miniatures (paintings)
Technique Used: 
Handwriting
Medium: 
Paint
Support: 
Paper
Style Period: 
Shiraz style
Style Period: 
Safawid period
Item Height: 
311 mm
Item Width: 
209 mm
Current Repository: 
The University of Manchester Library, U.K.
Rights Holder - Image: 
The University of Manchester Library
References: 
B.W. Robinson, 'Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library' (1980)
Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd): 
2015-10-12
Image Creation Technique: 
Digital capture by The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2015-10
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB
Collection Code: 
Rylands