King's Pote 25 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Ikhtiyārāt-i Badīʿī.

Author: Ḥājjī Zayn al-ʿAṭṭār, Zayn al-dīn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Anṣārī, d. 1329-1403 or 4 حاجى زين العطار، زين الدين على بن الحسين الانصارى

Title: Ikhtiyārāt-i Badīʿī

Title: اختيارات بديعى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: 15 Jumādā II, 1132 (5th year of some rule) / 24 Apr 1720 Scribe: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Lāhūrī عبد الرحيم لاهورى .

Colophon further notes: 1132 is not the 5th year of any Mughal emperor's rule. Browne dates the ms 1169/1755-56 (i.e. 3rd year of ʿĀlamgīr II).

Note concerning manuscript: Contain 2 works or two distinct parts of a single work, apparently in the same hand. The second starts on f.267 and is dated at the end.

Note concerning work: A work on materia medica. Browne: the book was so named in honour of the Princess Badīʿ al-Jamāl, to whom it was dedicated.

References

Browne no. 29

Palmer no. 25

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.469 [BL Add 16748]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.1252, no. 2289 [BL IO Islamic 3499 (oldest extant, 805H)]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 II.2 p.222 (1169H)

Lexicon bibliographicum et encyclopædicum, G. Flügel (1835-8) (Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-Zunūn), vol.1, p.197

P.C., p.212

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Moderately burnished chickpea in colour.

Extent: 266 + c. 50 = c. 316 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 25 × 16 cm.

Dimensions (written): 18 × 10.5 cm.

Foliation: Foliated (first part only).

Layout

17 lines per page.

Ruled in double red with light blue outer (most folios also have a much larger single blue frame). Ff.267v-268r has gold rulings, after which ruled in red either side of blue. Red rubrications. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Scribe: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Lāhūrī عبد الرحيم لاهورى.

Decoration

F.1v: an Indian sarlauh in gold, red, light blue pen. F.267v: a more highly illuminated sarlauh in gold.

Binding

Reddish brown leather, Indian style. Marbled paper doublures. Decorations: Pressure moulded central turanj with 2 small pendants. Dimensions: 25 × 16.5 × 3.8 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 9.

History

Origin: 15 Jumādā II, 1132 (5th year of some rule) AH; 24 Apr 1720 CE

Provenance and Acquisition

The "Pote Collection" arrived in England from India in 1790 and was divided between the Colleges of Eton and King's, Cambridge, with the first half alphabetically going to King's. Both halves of the collection are now housed in Cambridge University Library on permanent loan. Most if not all of the manuscripts had previously been owned by Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier (1741–1795).

Gift of Edward Ephraim Pote (d.1832) in 1788.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on E. G. Browne, "A supplementary hand-list of the Muhammadan manuscripts, including all those written in the Arabic character, preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge", Cambridge, 1922 and E. H. Palmer, "Catalogue of the oriental manuscripts in the library of King's College, Cambridge", J.R.A.S. v.3 (1867), pp.105-131 enhanced with additional descriptions and corrections by Shiva Mihan.

Availability

All manuscripts of the Pote Collection are on permanent loan at Cambridge University Library. Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures consult Cambridge University Library. Contact near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World