Delhi Persian 911A (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Tuḥfat al-Mulūk, on ethics
Contents
A short treatise on ethics in 40 short chapters giving advice for rulers by an unnamed author.
This work appears to be identical with British Library Or. 15598.
Physical Description
Stamped romanised and hand-written Persian foliation.
Collation
Catchwords on the bottom left of the verso.
Condition
Slightly worm-eaten and damp-stained.
Layout
7 lines per page.
Hand(s)
Calligraphic nastaʻlīq; copied in black ink with headings in blue.
Decoration
Illuminated polychrome headpiece (f. 1v); polychrome ruled text-frames; gold-sprinkled margins.
Inscriptions:
- Folio 1r contains a number of inscriptions, and the seal of Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān dated 1117 (1705/6). These include:
- a note introducing the work as Tuḥfat al-Mulūk dar Arkān-i Salṭanat, Fārsī;
- Yā kabīkaj, a talismanic phrase to fend off insects;
- a description of the manuscript and its calligraphy as Risālah-i naṣīḥat-i khvushkhaṭṭ;
- a valuation of Rs 2;
- inspection dated 4 Ẕī Ḥijjah 1103 (17 August 1692).
- Folio 9v contains an illegible oval seal and what appears to be a list of commodities.
Binding
17th or 18th century red leather Indian binding with outer band in a darker leather. Gold-painted rulings.
Rectangular seal of former owner Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān, 1117 (1705/6) (f. 1r).
Illegible oval seal (f. 9v).
Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 9v).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by various owners including Sayyid Saʻīd ʻAlī Khān (his seal dated 1117/1705-6).
Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859. Administrative deposit India Office Library, 1876.
Acquired by the Government of India in 1876
Record Sources
Based on R. Levy's description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/33, f. 16. Revised by Ali Shapouran
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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