Lawa’ih (Effulgences of light) by Jami (d.1492)

Manuscript; Lawa’ih (Effulgences of light) by Jami; text: Persian in black and gold nasta’liq script with a few lines of Arabic; 25 folios with a double-page painting (1 verso, 2 recto), 1 sarlawh (folio 2 verso),1 colophon (folio 25 recto), inscriptions ( folio1 recto, 25 recto); standard page: 2 columns, 14 lines.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in a late sixteenth-century gold block-stamped leather over paper pasteboards with a scalloped medallion and cornerpieces. The doublures are of leather filigree on a multicolored paper ground. The envelope flap has a border and surface identical to that on the upper and lower covers.

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Maker(s)
Calligrapher: Mir Ali Haravi (died ca. 1550)
Patron: Nawwab Durmish Khan
Historical period(s)
Safavid period, ca.1521-1525
Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 29 x 18.2 cm (11 7/16 x 7 3/16 in)
Geography
Iran, Probably Herat
Credit Line
Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Accession Number
S1986.38
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript

Keywords
Henri Vever collection, Iran, lute, percussion instrument, princess, Safavid period (1501 - 1722)
Provenance

Durmish Khan Shamlu (d. 1525). [1]

To 1942
Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France. [2]

From 1942 to 1986
Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]

From 1986
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]

Notes:

[1] Durmish Khan Shamlu, the patron of this copy of the Lawa'ih, was a senior Qizilbash commander for Shah Isma'il I (r. 1501-24). He held a favored position at the Shah's court, as his father was one of Isma'il's close companions (ahl-i ikhtisas) and his mother was the Shah's sister. Durmish Khan served as the Shah's master of ceremonies (eshik aqasi) and in 1517 became the guardian of Isma'il's second son, Sam Mirza. Four years later he was forced by one of his rivals at the court to take up the governorship of Herat, where he died in 1525. See Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp. 41-48.

[2] See the Vever Collection Purchase Agreements file, Collections Management Office.

[3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.

[4] See note 3.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Henri Vever 1854-1942
Francois Mautin 1907-2003

Description

Manuscript; Lawa'ih (Effulgences of light) by Jami; text: Persian in black and gold nasta'liq script with a few lines of Arabic; 25 folios with a double-page painting (1 verso, 2 recto), 1 sarlawh (folio 2 verso),1 colophon (folio 25 recto), inscriptions ( folio1 recto, 25 recto); standard page: 2 columns, 14 lines.
Binding: The manuscript is bound in a late sixteenth-century gold block-stamped leather over paper pasteboards with a scalloped medallion and cornerpieces. The doublures are of leather filigree on a multicolored paper ground. The envelope flap has a border and surface identical to that on the upper and lower covers.

Inscription(s)

Fol. 1 recto: In Turkish, "the history of Mulla Jami; illustrated history of Mulla Jami; illustrated Lawa'ih."
Fol. 25 recto, "written by this sinful slave Ali al-Katib. May God forgive his sins and disregard his faults. Written for the treasury of Nawwab Durmish Khan."

Label

The Lawa'ih (Effulgences of Light) is a mystical treatise written in prose but with numerous quatrains. It is divided into thirty sections, or "flashes." This copy of the manuscript is bound in an extremely fine late sixteenth-century gold block-stamped leather binding over paper pasteboards with doublures of leather filigree on multicolored paper ground.

Published References
  • Glenn D. Lowry, Milo Cleveland Beach, Elisabeth West FitzHugh, Susan Nemanzee, Janet Snyder. An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection. Washington and Seattle. cat. 175, pp. 146-147.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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