Or 16286 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Tarjī‘-band or stanzaic poem in praise of Ghāzī al-Dīn Ḥaydar, King of Awadh (reg. 1230-43/1814-27). The present manuscript was copied for the same patron, whose name appears in the colophon, preceded by with multiple laudatory epithets.

The poem comprises seven stanzas, each of which begins on a new page, with the Basmala, and closes with a couplet in a different rhyme from that of the stanza. The author of the poem is not named.

Begins: Basmala al-Salām ay sāya-at khwurshīd-i Rabb al-‘Ālamīn, āsmān-i ‘izz va tamkīn āftāb-i dād va dīn, Muftī-i har chār daftar Khwāja-’i har hasht jild, Dāvar-i har shish jihat A‘ẓam Amīr al-Mu’minīn

Ends: Zāyirān-i Rawża āb-rā bar dar-i Khuld-i barīn, mīrasad āvāz-i ṭibbam (sic, i.e. ṭablam?) fa-dhkhulūhā khālidīn

Other contents: 1r and 28r, seal impressions of banda-’i Pādshāh Sharaf Ḥusayn and of Niẓām al-Mulk...al-Dawla...Nāṣir Ṭabāṭabā’ī.

Lucknow, 4th regnal year (1233-4/1817-18). Copied by Muḥammad Ibrāhīm.

Calligraphic nasta‘līq. 8 lines. All recto sides are blank. Text enclosed in cloudbands against lightly gilt folio with bright gilt squares at the beginning or end of each half-line. Simple gilt arabesques in margins. Leaves made of four thicknesses of soft beige paper. Damage from handling and small wormholes, chiefly in the margins, throughout. 28 folios. 315 x 200 mm.; text area 263 x 143 mm. Original red leather covers with gilt ornamentation in European style.

Purchased at Christie's South Kensington auction, 12 October 2006, Lot 605