Folio from Yusuf u Zulaykha by Jami (d.1492); recto: Leaf and flower scrolls; verso: Birds, hares and landscape motifs

Object Details

• Author

  Jami (died 1492)

• Description

  Detached folio from a dispersed copy of Yusuf u Zulaykha by Jami; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: Leaf and flower scrolls, 2 columns, 14 lines; verso: Birds, hares and landscape motifs, 2 columns, 14 lines; one of a group of 13 folios.

  Border: The recto is set in gold and black rulings on a paper with gold leaf and floral scrolls, silhouetted against a brown background. The verso is set in gold, blue and black rulings on a paper with landscape, hares and bird motifs, silhouetted against a brown background.

• Label

  After the fifteenth century, the favored script for copying poetry in Iran and the rest of the Persian-speaking world, which extended from Mughal India to Ottoman Turkey, was nasta'liq, or the "hanging" script. This elegant cursive writing style is governed by strict rules of proportions that determine the relationship of the vertical and horizontal strokes and the spacing between letters and words. Notable features of nasta'liq are the abrupt change of letters from maximum to minimum width in a single stroke and razor-sharp points.

  Each folio is set in carefully illuminated borders, replete with birds and beasts in a landscape setting. These designs, silhouetted against a brown background, further enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of the page-an important requirement of poetic manuscripts.

• Provenance

  To 1936

  Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York. [1]

  From 1936

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See undated folder sheet note, object folder F1936.9, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1. See also, Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dr. Jacob Hirsch (1874-1955)

• Origin

  Qazvin, Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1500s, 1610s, 1600s, 1590s, 1540s, 1650s, 1530s, 1640s, 1520s, 1630s, 1510s, 1620s, 1580s, 1730s, 1690s, 1570s, 1680s, 1560s, 1670s, 1550s, 1660s

• Name

  Dr. Jacob Hirsch

• Place

  Qazvin

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Rabbits, Pelican, Landscapes, Art, Animals, Yusuf, Zulaykha, Arts of the Islamic World, Birds, Egrets

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Manuscripts