Eton Pote 277 (Eton College Library, Eton College)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Ẓafarnāmah.

Author: Sharaf al-dīn ʿAlī Yazdī, d. 1454 شرف الدین علی یزدی

Title: Ẓafarnāmah

Title: ظفرنامه

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Place: Herat Date: 5 Shaʿbān 877 / 5 Jan 1473 Scribe: Anonymous.

References

Margoliouth no. 179 (shelf/item: 15/5)

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.173 [BL Add. 25024]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.78, no. 173 [BL IO Islamic 984]

Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library E. Sachau and H. Ethé 1889 col.87, no. 153 [Bodl. Ouseley 263]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.285 (Herat, 877)

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.441

A catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the University of Cambridge, E. Browne (1896) p.143, no. 67 [Camb. Oo. 6.14]

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 415 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 24.5 × 16 cm.

Dimensions (written): 17.5 × 10.5 cm.

Foliation: Foliated (on the verso).

Condition

Water damage.

Layout

21 lines per page.

Ruled in gold with a blue outer. 3 columns for verse. Rubrications in gold (in riqāʿ script).

Hand(s)

Script: early nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Decoration

F.1v: illuminated sarlauh . The verso of the first folio contains an offset in grey and brown (grey on the recto).

Additions:

F.1r: 2 faint seals. f.189v: seal (ʿAbd al-Bāqī, 965). F.415r: 13 seals (Ismāʿīl, slave of Shāh Jahān, 1049; oval in kufic, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; square, 1149); a dated birthday note (Saturday 7 Ramaḍān, 960).

Binding

Dark brown leather, Indian style. A gold inlayed turanj , pendants and corner pieces. Plain leather doublures. Dimensions: 24.5 × 15.5 × 5.5 cm. Unboxed. Polier's number: 726.

History

Origin: Herat; 5 Shaʿbān 877 AH; 5 Jan 1473 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 second half alphabetically going to Eton. 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 D.S. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College, Oxford, 1904 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