Hart 21172 (The Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery)
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R. E. Hart Collection
Contents
Summary of Contents: This small volume, originally created as a decorative blank book in the mid-17th century, contains delicately sprayed stenciled margins throughout. Its subsequent owners employed it primarily to enter various excerpts of Persian and Eastern Turkish poetry, Arabic quotations, and six ink drawings. At least three hands entered content on its surviving forty-six folios, with two identifiable. The first, one Muḥammad Ḥusayn, wrote primarily in delicate shikastah script and signed an entry in the month of Muḥarram 1065 AH (Nov. 1654 CE). The second, a Muḥammad Taqī al-Rāzī, wrote primarily in nasta‘līq script and signed one entry in the year 1083 AH (1672–1673 CE).Title: دلائل الخيراتAuthor: Various AuthorsScribe, Autographer, Inscriber and Former owner: Muḥammad Ḥusayn, fl. ca. 1654;
محمد حسينScribe, Autographer, Inscriber and Former owner: al-Rāzī, Muḥammad Taqī, fl. ca. 1672–1673;
محمد تقي الرازيLanguage(s): Persian, Eastern Chagatai Turkish, and Arabic1. 1bAuthor: Tajallī Shīrāzī, ʻAlī Riz̤ā ibn Ḥusayn, d. 1674 or 5;
تجلي شيرازى، علي رضا بن حسين2. 1b–3b3. 4aTitle: QuatrainsAuthor: Anonymous4. 4bTitle: Ghazals5. 5aTitle: ProseAuthor: Aflāṭūn;
افلاطون;
Plato6. 6aTitle: GhazalsAuthor: >Maḥvī Hamadānī, Amīr Mughīs̲ al-Dīn ʻAlī, approximately 1523-1607 or 1608;
محوى همدانى، امير مغيث الدين علي7. 6b–7aTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Aṭṭār8. 7bTitle: QuatrainAuthor: AnonymousIncipit: (beginning) سویت ار دیر دیر می آیم * نبود آن زقدر و پایه من | حیف میآیدم که تیره شود * آستان درت ز سایه من9. 9aTitle: Ghazals10. 9b–10aTitle: Quatrains11. 10bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Ḥusayn KhānReported in the from Taẕkira-yi Naṣirābādī, completed 1091/1680
12. 11a–12bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Salmān Savājī13. 13b–14bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Abū al-Qāsim Anṣārī Kāzarunī14. 15aTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Qāsim Mahdī (Dīvānā)Author: Sulṭān ‘AlīAuthor: Qudsī15. 15a–16bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: ‘Abd al-RazzāqAuthor: Mīrzā MarṣūmAuthor: Kalīm16. 17aTitle: Arabic PrayerAuthor: Muḥammad Ḥusayn.17. 17aTitle: Turki ghazalAuthor: Ṣafarī Qulī Bayg18. 18bTitle: Turki ghazalsAuthor: Unidentified19. 19aTitle: Persian GhazalsAuthor: Ẓuhūrī20. 19bTitle: Persian GhazalsAuthor: Suhrāb21. 20a–20bTitle: Turki ghazalsAuthor: Unidentified22. 21aTitle: Persian ghazalAuthor: Mīrzā Ībrāhīm23. 23aTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Ḥakīm Muḥammad Sa‘īdā24. 23b–24aTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Mīrzā Vaḥīd Qazvīnī25. 25aTitle: Excerpt from the IskandarnāmahAuthor: Niẓāmī26. 34b–25aTitle: Excerpt from the IskandarnāmahAuthor: Niẓāmī27. 25bTitle: Persian coupletAuthor: Unidentified28. 26aTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Mīr NaṣrAuthor: Ẓuhūrī29. 26bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: ShaydāAuthor: SubḥānīAuthor: Kamāl Ismā‘īl30. 28aTitle: Persian coupletAuthor: UnidentifiedIsolated couplet in unidetnfied hand Nº 3.
31. 28bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Unidentified32. 29a–29bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Ṣā'ib Tabrīzī33. 30aTitle: Persian coupletAuthor: UnidentifiedIsolated couplet in unidetnfied hand Nº 3.
34. 30bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Ṣā'ib TabrīzīColophon: Signed Muḥammad Taqī al-Rāzī 108335. 31a–32bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Ṣā'ib Tabrīzī36. 33bTitle: Turki ghazalsAuthor: Unidentified37. 33bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Mīrzā Ṣāliḥ Shaykh al-Islām38. 35aTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad Amīlī39. 36aTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: Maḥvī40. 37aTitle: Persian coupletAuthor: UnidentifiedIsolated couplet in unidetnfied hand Nº 3.
41. 37bTitle: Persian ghazalsAuthor: ẒuhūrīAuthor: Ṣaydī42. 38a–38bTitle: Turki ghazalsAuthor: Unidentified43. 39a–39bTitle: Turki ghazalsAuthor: Fuz̤ūlī44. 40bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Amīr KhusrawAuthor: Shaykh Abū al-Qāsim (Firdawsī)Signed Bashīr Allāh Qulī Jumadā II but undated.
45. 41aTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Yūsuf Bayg ShamlūSigned Muḥammad ḥasan Muḥarram 1065
46. 42a–42bTitle: Ornate Persian proseAuthor: UnidentifiedIncipit: (beginning) در خیران از سرور کامیاب و خلاصه میخواست و رحمت عالمیان و صفرت از میان محمد صلی الله علیه شفیع مطاع نمی گیریم فسیم حسیم ز سیم رسیمWritten in the third unidentified hand in this manuscript.
47. 43aTitle: Isolated CoupletAuthor: Unidentified48. 43bTitle: Tallies of lines by poetsAuthor and Scribe: UnidentifiedWritten in the third unidentified hand, it may reflect an attempt to tally the number of lines by various poets within this volume.
49. 44aTitle: Isolated CoupletsAuthor: Unidentified50. 45bTitle: GhazalsAuthor: Nāẓirī51. 46aTitle: Ornate Persian proseAuthor: UnidentifiedIncipit: (beginning) دستور العمل از خود بیگانگی: هر ورقش مسرور بی برگ و لوائی استWritten in the third unidentified hand in this manuscript.
Physical Description
Form: codexExtent: 46 folios, 2 flyleaves (i + 46 + i).Dimensions (leaf): 75 × 145 mm.Written dimensions vary throughout.Foliation: Unfoliated.Collation
Undetermined. No catchwords.Condition
Handle with extreme caution. In fair to poor condition with corrosion due to verdigris copper acetate green applied to the margins.Layout
Written primarily in one and two columns columns, with variant lines per page. Unruled.
Hand(s)
Written in a clear black shikastah and nasta‘līq scripts.
Decoration
The volume preserves a fragment of the original illuminted header featuring floral scrollwork against a lapis ground. . The The entire volume features various stencilled designs applied mainly to the exterior margins; however, two folios bear additional designs in the central text area. It also contains five ink drawings.
Headpiece Folio 1bbears the remnants of an illuminated header.
Margins: Sprayed stencilled margins in orange and green on most folios feature animals, palmettes, lattices, and floral scrollwork. Folios 34a–35b bear stencilled designs reserved for text on the others.
Drawings: Six hastily rendered late 17th c. style ink drawings found on the following folios:
- Folios 8a: Majnūn in the wilderness with animals.
- Folio 12a: A man fishes with a net from a stream.
- Folio 22b: A youth wears a turban in an outdoor landscape.
- Folio 35b: A man grapples a deer outdoors.
- Folio 40a: A beardless youth sports a feather sarpīch in his turban.
- Folio 41b: A man on horseback spears a lion.
Binding
Probably rebound prior to its arrival in Britain.
Resewn at two stations. Covered in semi-limp goatskin leather. Endpapers of Japanese paper added during recent conservation treatment.
80 × 145 × 7 mm.
Handle binding with extreme caution. In fair condition, albeit with opening to the gutter margins, which remain in delicate condition.
History
Origin: Completed as a blank book, probably in Safavid Empire ca. 1650 CE.Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by one Muḥammad Ḥusayn, who signed an entry in the month of Muḥarram 1065 AH (Nov. 1654 CE) and Muḥammad Taqī al-Rāzī, signed another in 1083 AH (1672–1673 CE).
While the circumstances under which this manuscript arrived in Britain remains unclear, collector Robert Edward Hart (1878-1946) acquired them from an unidentified source.
Bequeathed to the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Blackburn, Lancashire, after the death of Robert Edward Hart (1878-1946) in 1946.
Record Sources
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2026.
Availability
If you wish to make an inquiry please email museum@blackburn.gov.uk.
Funding of Cataloguing
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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