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An Illuminated Frontispiece from a Manuscript of Bustan by Sa'di's
An Illuminated Frontispiece from a Manuscript of Bustan by Sa'di's

An Illuminated Frontispiece from a Manuscript of Bustan by Sa'di's

Former TitleAn Illuminated Frontispiece Two pages from a manuscript of Sa'di's Bustan
CultureBukhara
Date1539
MediumOpaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
DimensionsOverall: 9 3/4 × 13 1/2 inches (24.77 × 34.29 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number34-222/1,2
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionPersian poetry written in nasta'liq scriptExhibition History

More than Words:  The Art of Calligraphy Across Asia, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 21, 2017-July 8, 2018, no cat.

Gallery Label
Gold and blue paint with black ink set off the opening verses of the Bustan (Orchard), a poem written in 1257 by the Persian poet Sa‘di. In it, he related observations and stories that reflect Muslim virtues and culture. This famous work was frequently copied throughout Iran, Central Asia, and India. Calligraphers in the Islamic world often began their work with a flourish like the one seen here. Their elaborate illuminated designs merge words with ornament in inventive ways.
Provenance

With Nejat Rabbi, Tehran, by 1934 [1];

With Arthur Upham Pope, London and New York, by 1934[2];

Purchased from Pope by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.

[1] According to Arthur Upham Pope, invoice to NAMA, July 17, 1934, NAMA curatorial files.

[2] According to Pope in a letter to the Director, dated August 4, 1936, in the NAMA curatorial files, this double-page frontispiece was made in Bokhara in the first half the 16th century.

 

Published References

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 131, 135, fig. 6, (repro.).

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