Jami's "Nafahat al-Uns" (Lives of the Saints)
manuscripttext
per
From Jami's "Nafahat al-Uns" (Lives of the Saints), manuscript pages written in Persian Nasta'liq script from the Shaybanid court of Central Asia.
Dimensions of Written Surface: 7.2 (w) x 13.1 (h) cm
The Persian verses are written in black nasta'liq script in two columns on a beige paper. Verses are divided by a plain central gutter marked off by two gold vertical lines. An illuminated chapter heading towards the bottom of the text panel includes the section title about Sari Saqati written in white ink on a gold background.
The text panel is framed and pasted onto a larger sheet of paper decorated with flower and leaf motifs on a blue ground achieved through the use of a pounce. This kind of marginal decoration is found in a number of 16th-century manuscripts produced under Shaybanid patronage in Bukhara (in modern-day Uzbekistan) from ca. 1500-1550 (Gray 1979: 248-272). Other manuscripts, such as a copy of Bitikji's "Athar-i Muzaffar" made in 975/1568 (Topkapi Palace Library H. 1233), also makes use of pounced motifs as marginal decoration. For these reasons, it is possible to suggest that this manuscript was produced in Central Asia during the 16th century.
This calligraphic fragment includes a section from Jami's (d. 897/1492) hagiographical work entitled "Nafahat al-Uns" (Lives of the Saints), in which the lives of a number of Sufi saints are described. In this particular folio and its verso (1-88-154.119 V), Jami describes an event in the life of the Sufi shaykh Sari Saqati (d. 867). He was the teacher and maternal uncle of the famous mystic Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910) and composed many sayings on mystical unity (tawhid), love of God, and other spiritual matters. The biography is continued on the verso of this folio.
Calligraphy, Arabic.
Calligraphy, Persian.
Manuscripts, Persian--Washington (D.C.)
Arabic script calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Nasta'liq
Uzbekistan
Tajikistan
https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.197