This volume, which is in two parts, is mainly devoted to the Collection’s illustrated manuscripts and detached folios with painted illustrations – primarily romantic poetry and anthologies – and single page compositions – mostly portraiture and genre painting – from Iran and Turkey, dating from the 14th to the mid-19th centuries. Many items are of major artistic importance.
Illustrated Persian manuscripts include several copies of the Khamsah of Nizami and a Divan of Hafiz dated AH 975 (AD 1567–8) with superbly illuminated margins and two exquisite paintings, one by Muhammadi and the other by ‘Abdallah al-Mudhahhib al-Shirazi.
The large group of detached folios from Iran includes several of the late 15th century in the style of Muhammad Siyah Qalam (otherwise best represented in albums in the Topkapı Palace Library). Particularly strong in drawings from 17th-century Isfahan, it includes works by its most famous painters, Riza-yi ‘Abbasi, Muhammad Qasim, Mu‘in Musavvir, and the eclectic artists Muhammad Zaman, ‘Ali Quli Jubbah-dar and Shaykh ‘Abbasi.
Ottoman paintings include two folios from the Siyer-i Nebi (‘Life of the Prophet’) made for Sultan Murad III, and an exquisite 16th-century drawing of a dragon in foliage in the style of Süleyman the Magnificent’s court painter, Shah Quli.
The late Professor J.M. Rogers † – Fellow of the British Academy; Honorary Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; Former Deputy Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, London; inaugural Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in many aspects of Islamic culture and history, especially Seljuk and Ottoman arts
Manijeh Bayani – Specialist in Persian and Arabic epigraphy; contributor to most of the catalogues in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art series
Dr Emily Shovelton – Senior Teaching Fellow and a Convenor for the Arts of India module of the Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art at SOAS, London; specialist in painting and manuscripts from Iran and South Asia.
Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam – Head of Sale in the Islamic and Indian Art department, at Christie’s King Street, formerly Assistant Curator and research assistant at the Victoria and Albert Museum; specialist in calligraphy and painting from Iran and South Asia up to the 19th century
Tim Stanley – Senior Curator, Middle Eastern collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in Islamic manuscript production, calligraphy and the decorative arts and has a longstanding interest in Ottoman culture
Set two parts; 583 pages plus bibliography and index (the set); fully illustrated in colour, section on documentary inscriptions with translations; hardback with dust jackets (slipcased); 36 × 26 cm; ISBN: 978-1-874780-81-6
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