Manuscripts16th-19th century

Illustrated Manuscript of the Zafarnama (Book of Conquest) by Hatifi; with lacquer binding

1520, c. 1600, 18th-19th century

Description

The text is a copy of the Perisan poet Hatifi's Zafarnama ("Book of Victory", also known as the Timurnama, "Book of Timur"); the beginning of the text is missing. It is copied in nasta’liq script in black ink, in two columns and 15 lines to a page. According to the colophon on the last text page it was completed by the Persian scribe Mahmud ibn Ishaq Siyavushani in 927 H (1520-21). Also known as Mahmud Shihabi Haravi, he was a pupil of Mir Ali Haravi, the well-known calligraphy master. Other seals and notes have been erased from the colophon page. The date1026 H (1617-18) is written in a different hand at the bottom of two obliquely written columns towards the end.These folios on white paper have been remounted on pinkish margins with gilded decorations. There are also ten paintings in Mughal style which appear to have been painted in two groups. Five of them are text-panel size, and five of them largely expand to the margins. The lacquer binding is datable stylistically to the 18th-19th century and has an arabesque decoration on greenish gold ground on the outside and a rose branch on dark green on the inside.

Classification

Manuscripts

Medium

Watercolor, gold-colored pigments, and lacquer on pasteboard (covers) Ink, gold, and watercolor on paper (text)

Century

16th-19th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

26.1 × 15.9 × 2.7 cm (10 1/4 × 6 1/4 × 1 1/16 in.) Folio: 25 × 15.5 cm (9 13/16 × 6 1/8 in.) Text area: 18 × 8.5 cm (7 1/16 × 3 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2014. Note: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar (1913-2014) formed this collection over a period of sixty years. She purchased the works of art on the international art market.