Lawa'ih (Effulgences of light) by Jami (d.1492)

Object Details

• Patron

  Nawwab Durmish Khan

• Calligrapher

  Mir Ali Haravi (died ca. 1550)

• Description

  Manuscript; Lawa'ih (Effulgences of light) by Jami; text: Persian in black and gold nasta'liq script with a few lines of Arabic; 25 folios with a double-page painting (1 verso, 2 recto), 1 sarlawh (folio 2 verso),1 colophon (folio 25 recto), inscriptions ( folio1 recto, 25 recto); standard page: 2 columns, 14 lines.

  Binding: The manuscript is bound in a late sixteenth-century gold block-stamped leather over paper pasteboards with a scalloped medallion and cornerpieces. The doublures are of leather filigree on a multicolored paper ground. The envelope flap has a border and surface identical to that on the upper and lower covers.

• Inscriptions

  Fol. 1 recto: In Turkish, "the history of Mulla Jami; illustrated history of Mulla Jami; illustrated Lawa'ih."

  Fol. 1 recto: In Turkish, "the history of Mulla Jami; illustrated history of Mulla Jami; illustrated Lawa'ih."

• Label

  The Lawa'ih (Effulgences of Light) is a mystical treatise written in prose but with numerous quatrains. It is divided into thirty sections, or "flashes." This copy of the manuscript is bound in an extremely fine late sixteenth-century gold block-stamped leather binding over paper pasteboards with doublures of leather filigree on multicolored paper ground.

• Provenance

  Durmish Khan Shamlu (d. 1525). [1]

  To 1942

  Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France. [2]

  From 1942 to 1986

  Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Durmish Khan Shamlu, the patron of this copy of the Lawa'ih, was a senior Qizilbash commander for Shah Isma'il I (r. 1501-24). He held a favored position at the Shah's court, as his father was one of Isma'il's close companions (ahl-i ikhtisas) and his mother was the Shah's sister. Durmish Khan served as the Shah's master of ceremonies (eshik aqasi) and in 1517 became the guardian of Isma'il's second son, Sam Mirza. Four years later he was forced by one of his rivals at the court to take up the governorship of Herat, where he died in 1525. See Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp. 41-48.

  [2] See the Vever Collection Purchase Agreements file, Collections Management Office.

  [3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.

  [4] See note 3.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Crushed Lapis and Burnished Gold: The Art of Illumination (June 9 to December 8, 1991)

  International Exhibition of Persian Art (January 7 to March 7, 1931)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Henri Vever (1854-1942)

  Francois Mautin (1907-2003)

• Origin

  Probably Herat, Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

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• Name

  Mautin, Francois Albert, Vever, Henri

• Place

  Herat

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Art, Percussion instrument, Princess, Henri Vever collection, Arts of the Islamic World, Lute

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Manuscripts