Text folio (text recto; text verso of folio 18), from a manuscript of the Ruba‘yyat by ‘Umar Khayyam
1845
Description
The small manuscript of 72 folios opens with an illuminated European-style sarlawh featuring flowers and acanthus leaves. The text is written in Ottoman ta‘liq script. The preface in Ottoman Turkish is arranged in 17 lines to a page, and the verses 12 lines in two columns. Colored papers are used throughout the text. All the folios are decorated with horizontal bars in gold and blue/green separating the quatrains. The manuscript is copied by Sayyid 'Abdi in 1261/1845. The green leather binding is gilded, and the doublure (inside cove is covered with blue paper with embossed patterns.
Dimensions
20 x 14 cm (7 7/8 x 5 1/2 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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