Album of calligraphy specimens
1854 (date of album compilation)
Description
The album contains 19 folios, carrying 36 pieces of calligraphy. A small note suggests that the album entered the library of Khanlar Mirza Ihtisham al-Dawla, in Muharram 1271/Sep-Oct 1854. He was the seventeenth son of the crown prince, ‘Abbas Mirza. All folios have attributions written in the margins. Altogether there are 2 folios in taʿliq by Khwaja Ikhtiyar, 13 folios by Darvish ‘Abd al-Majid Taliqani (d. Isfahan, 1185 H.), 7 folios by Muhammad Shafi‘ Isfahani (known as Shafi‘a) (d. c.1089 H.), 3 folios by Mirza Kuchak Isfahani (d. after 1228 H.), 2 by Mirza Riza (d. 12th century H.), 2 in the style of Shafi‘a, and 2 in the manner of Darvish. The two folios attributed to Khwaja Ikhtiyar are the oldest works in this album. The album is bound in a dark brown leather binding bordered by gold painted frames. The inside covers are plain brown leather framed by two gold lines.
Dimensions
24 x 15 cm (9 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Provenance
Ezzat-Malek Soudavar, Geneva, Switzerland (by 2014), by descent; to her son Abolala Soudavar, Houston, Texas (2014), loan; to Harvard Art Museums, 2015. 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.
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