Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

RAS Persian 310. (Library, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Kitab-i Mathnawiyyat-i Zafar Khan by Ahsanallah b. Abu 'l-Hasan, entitled Zafar Khan, nom-de-plume Ahsan.

10.25 by 6 ins. Several notes on flyleaves. To be completed. Various verses occur on the other blank pages before and after the text, including,on the second blank folio after the text ends, hemistichs supposedly exchanged between Jahangir and Nur Jahan. Consists of 1. Jilwah-i Naz. Ff1b-28a. 2. Maikhanah-i Raz, completed in 1170. Ff29b-123b, the first three pages consisting of a prose introduction. A manuscript of high quality, but not fully completed. The decoration is not fully carried through in that latter part of both poems. Headings in gold, in the earlier part outlined in black on illuminated panels. Gold ruled margins and verse dividers, with some illumination. Richly illuminated initial openings of both mathanwis, the margins of the second one filled with plants in colours. Similar plants in gold in the margins of the earlier parts of both mathnawis, In the second one similar flowers are pencilled in on the margins of a further section. They have evidently been produced with the aid of pounces or stencils, preparatory to the application of the gold. Scribe is the author himself.

Incipit: Bi-nam-i ankih gul ham bulbul-i ust (?)
Language(s): Persian.

References

Rieu, ii, p. 807, 'a table of his divan'. Cf. ii, 687-8.
Entered in the Donations Register for 15 March 1834. No 4 in list of Persian MSS. ' ... the autograpoh copy of the author, with some well executed illustrations.'

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: (Old foliation starts with the first of six blank folios before the text
Dimensions (leaf):

Layout

15 lines to the page in two columns

Binding

Brown leather English binding with tooled and blind-tooled decoration. Bound from the Carnegie U.K. Trust grant, 1929.

History

Origin: Lahore. 26 Dhu 'l-Hijja 1073. Some sources (Beale, Rieu) say Zafar Khan died in 1073, but only four or five days of the year were left. Check further.

Provenance and Acquisition

Provenance: Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Doyle.

Availability

Visitors are welcome to consult manuscripts in the library by prior appointment. Information on access is available on the library page of the Society's web site at www.royalasiaticsociety.org and appointments can be arranged by e-mailing library@royalasiaticsociety.org


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