Collection ID: 0016 | Metadata type: TEI

Title

Khamsah (or Quintet)

Authors

• Jamal al-din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki Mu'ayyad, aka Nizami

Call number

NEP33
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Language

Primary language: Arabic.

Origin

Date

From 1582 to 1584

Place

Shiraz, Iran

Summary

Khamsah (or Quintet), poems written by Jamal al-din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki Mu'ayyad, usually known by the pen name, Nizami. The greatest Persian poet, he spent most of his life (b. 575-613 H/1141-6 CE; d.575-623H/1180-1217 CE in Ganja,( former Elizabethpol), present- day Azerbayjan. This copy, without its original cover, comprises 359 folios, with two-double paged illumination interleaved with a double -page frontispiece painting showing throne scene, and with a double - page finispiece painting showing a banquet. Every one of the five poems begins with an elaborate title heading, and ends with a carpet page and a place for a colophon. The manuscript is written in nasta'liq script and has twenty-seven paintings. Copied in Shiraz, Iran, by Qasim Katib (?) in the months of Muharram to Jumada II, 992 H/ 1584 CE. In size, nature of execution, materials, illumination and illustration programs, this manuscript belongs to a group of late sixteenth century manuscripts made in Shiraz, a city in southern Iran. Like most others in the group, this manuscript has no patron indicated on its title pages, although its rich program of ornamentation, illumination, as well as the numerous accompanying paintings, would indicate that the makers of this book had an identifiable patron such as an amir or governor already in mind, hoped to sell it to someone of this class or was aiming for the Ottoman market.

Extent

Bound to: 37.47 cm x 25.4 cm

Licenses

• Text

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  URL

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• Text

  Metadata is ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• fol. 4v — Book I: Makhzan al-Asrar, fol. 4v
• fol. 34v — Colophon: The last day of (سلخ) Dhi al-qida and the year نهصد و نود(30 dhu al-Qida 990H), December 15th, 1582, fol. 34v
• fol. 35r — Book II: Khusraw and Shirin, fol. 35r
• fol. 117v — Colophon: mid muharram and the year نهصد نود و يك (c. 15 Muharram 991H), January 29th, 1583, fol. 117v
• fol. 118r — Book III: Haft Paykar, fol. 118r
• fol. 182v — Colophon: The third (سيم) of Safar the year, February 15th, 1583, fol. 182v نهصد نود و يك(3 Safar 991H),
• fol. 183r — Book IV: Layli and Majnun, fol. 183v
• fol. 237v — Colophon: undated, fol. 239v
• fol. 238r — Book V: Iskandarnama, fol. 240r
• fol. 326r — Colophon: mid Jumada II and the yearنهصد و نود و دو (c. 15 Jumada II 992H), June 14th, 1584 , fol. 328r
• fol. 326v — Book V: Iqbalnama, fol. 328v
• fol. 370r — Colophon: mid Jumada II and the yearنهصد و نود و دو (c. 15 Jumada II 992H), June 14th, 1584 , fol. 372r