Manuscripts

Kalam al-Muluk by Mirza Taqi Aliabadi Mazandarani and his Divan

dated 1838

Description

The manuscript contains the Kalam al-Muluk (or Risala-yi Khaqaniyya) composed by Mirza Muhammad Taqi Aliabadi Mazandarani (1198-1256/1783-1840) with the penname Sahib Divan. The content was narrated by Fath ‘Ali Shah concerning history and lineage in the last year of his life (1250). This manuscript is dated Jumada II 1254/ August 1838 (two years before the composer’s death). It comprises a prose part dated Shaʿban 1258/July 1842, and seven other chapters, each decorated with a simply illuminated sarlawh. The text is copied in nastaʿliq script in 21 lines per page and two columns for verses. A separate quire smaller than the present paper size is preserved in the same binding. It has an illuminated sarlawh in Qajar style above which the name of Muhammad ʿAli Shah Qajar is inscribed. This text is also copied in nastaʿliq and bears the seal impression of Malik al-Shu‘ra-yi Astan-i Muqaddas. The medium brown leather binding with gilded and tooled central and corner pieces is decorated with marbled paper on the inside cover.

Classification

Manuscripts

Medium

Ink, colors, and gold on paper; gilded leather binding

Period

Qajar period

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

21.3 x 13.7 cm (8 3/8 x 5 3/8 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.