Eton Pote 453 (Eton College Library, Eton College)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Khamsa-i Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī.

Author: Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī, ca. 1253-1325 امير خسرو دهلوى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: 6 Dhū-l-Ḥijjah 991 (?) / 21 Dec 1583 (?) Scribe: Valī Ibrāhīm Banī Isrāʾīl Mūsavī ولى ابراهيم بنى اسرائيل موسوى .

Colophon further notes: Scribe's name has been partially erased. The date at an internal colophon has been tampered with.

References

Margoliouth no. 131 (shelf/item: 15/10)

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.615 [BL Add. 24983]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.691, no. 1186/6-10 [BL IO Islamic 51]

Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library E. Sachau and H. Ethé 1889 col.560, no.766 [Bodl. Elliot 188]

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: c. 250 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 27.8 × 19 cm.

Dimensions (written): 19 × 11.5 cm.

Foliation: Not foliated or paginated.

Layout

21 lines per page.

Ruled in double red, green, blue and yellow. 4 columns. Rubrications in red.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Valī Ibrāhīm Banī Isrāʾīl Mūsavī ولى ابراهيم بنى اسرائيل موسوى.

Decoration

F.1v: decorated sarlauh .

Additions:

F.1r: seal of Polier (1181); other seals erased (one with 8 lobes); titles of the 5 mathnavis; purchase note (Monday 9 Safar 1174; 22 rupees); inspection note (14 Jumādā I). Final folio: 3 erased seal (one tear-drop in shape, 1056, reign of Shāh Jahān). Similar seals alongside internal colophons.

Binding

Brown leather, European style. Watermarked paper doublures ("C. Taylor"). Dimensions: 28.5 × 19.5 × 3.5 cm. Unboxed. Polier's number: 362.

History

Origin: 6 Dhū-l-Ḥijjah 991 (?) AH; 21 Dec 1583 (?) 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

Funding of Cataloguing

Eton College

Subjects

Persian poetry--747-1500

Comments

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