King's Pote 32 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Note concerning author: The author is probably Niẓām al-dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Munshī.

Colophon details: Date: End of Jumādā I, 941 / Dec 1534 Scribe: Anonymous.

Note concerning manuscript: According to a note on the flyleaf the manuscript is in the hand of ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Munshī, i.e. the author, Niẓām al-dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Munshī Astarābādī. ʿAbd al-Ḥayy was an early master of taʿlīq and served as secretary to Abū Saʿīd Gurkān, a great grandson of Timur. He was a pupil of Jaʿfar Bāysunghurī and died in Tabriz in 907 (reference: Fażāʾilī, Aṭlas al-khaṭṭ, pp.325-6).ʿAbd al-Ḥayy was himself the master of Mullā Darvīsh, i.e. Mawlānā Darvīsh, ʿAbd Allāh Balkhī, another master of taʿlīq. Mullā Darvīsh was secretary to the children of Abū Saʿīd Gurkān, of Ḥusayn Bayqārā and his children, and of Uzbek Shaybānī (d.916). In fact, there is no name in the colophon to this manuscript and the date 941 would not allow for this to be an autograph. Rather, 941 dates the ms to 10 years into the reign of Shah Tahmasp and 4 years into the reign of Humayun. 10 years after this Humayun would seek refuge with Shah Tahmasp and it is reported that a number of calligraphers including a later master of taʿlīq, Mīr Manṣūr Astarābādī (who wrote in the style of Darvish) and/or his son Mīr Qāsim (also a master of taʿlīq), left to serve Humayun and later Akbar, in India (ref. Qāżī Aḥmad, Gulistān-i Hunar, in the Minorsky translation, Calligraphers, p.89). These latter two, Mīr Manṣūr and Mīr Qāsim would be candidates for the scribe of this manuscript. And this could also help explain how the manuscript came to be in India.

Note concerning work: Epistolary models.

References