The lacquer binding is decorated with sprays of flora and vegetation in gold on a black ground. The design radiates from the centre, features a rose bush with flowers in various stages of bloom with three nightingales perched on its stems.
AKM277, Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding, Front Cover

© The Aga Khan Museum

The binding doublures each feature a single iris in gold against a black ground with an inscription above the flower.
AKM277, Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding, Front Binding Doublure

© The Aga Khan Museum

Plain page with small inscriptions and annotations in upper left corner, telling us that Nasir al-Mulk donated this manuscript to the royal library in A.H. 1323/1904–5, ten years after it was completed.
AKM277, Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding, Front Page

© The Aga Khan Museum

Opening folio of the manuscript, bearing an elaborately illuminated heading (sar lawh) in the form of a triangular hasp with several registers in gold, lapis, and other colours decorated with intricate interlaced and vegetal designs.
AKM277, Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding, fol.1v

© The Aga Khan Museum

Side view of the lacquer binding front cover and the edge of the pages
AKM277, Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding, Side

© The Aga Khan Museum

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Manuscript of Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) with Lacquer binding
  • Accession Number:AKM277
  • Creator:Author of text Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, (1626–99), Illumination by Mahmud Shirazi, Calligrapher unknown
  • Place:Iran
  • Dimensions:22.3 × 14.0 × 2.8 cm
  • Date:AH 1313/1895–6
  • Materials and Technique:lacquer binding
  • This manuscript of the Zad al-Maʻad (Provisions for the Hereafter) by Muhammad Baqir Majlisi (d. 1699), a powerful and conservative Shiʻi cleric and scholar of the late Safavid period, [1] contains 120 pages of text in large revival naskh script. The text is an abridged version of a larger volume by the same author. It contains 14 chapters, the first nine of which are supplications for each day of the year followed by recommendations for virtuous religious practices with explanatory introductions in Persian.

Further Reading

 

Due to the absence of a colophon, the name of the calligrapher remains unknown; the manuscript, however, includes on the second folio the name of the patron, the minister [Abu’l Qasim] Nasir al-Mulk. Inscriptions on the doublures of the lacquer binding confirm this name along with the date and name of the illuminator, who probably also painted the lacquer binding. The inscription reads: “The humble servant, Mahmud Shirazi, the court illuminator (muzahhib-bashi) in the year AH 1313/1895–6.” This date curiously coincides with the last year of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar’s reign (1848–96), the year of his assassination.

 

Each folio of this manuscript contains 12 lines of text set against a background of delicate gold scrolls punctuated by cues to the reader in Arabic in red ink. The opening folio bears an elaborately illuminated heading (sar lawh) in the form of a triangular hasp with several registers in gold, lapis, and other colours decorated with intricate interlaced and vegetal designs. A smaller version of the same motif appears on the illuminated borders of the second folio.

 

The lacquer binding is decorated with sprays of flora and vegetation in gold on a black ground. The design radiates from the centre, creating an elaborate ogival pattern that parallels the illuminations in the manuscript. The centre features a rose bush with flowers in various stages of bloom with three nightingales perched on its stems (also known as the gul-u-bul-bul motif). The spray of roses is framed by a wide band with a dense pattern of grape-bearing vine scrolls. At the four corners there are partial bouquets of roses. The composition is then framed by a rectangular border of vegetal scrolls.

 

Mahmud Shirazi was a known illuminator whose name is recorded by the famous scholar, painter and historian of Shiraz, Muhammad Nasir, Fursat al-Dawla Shirazi (1854–1920) in his Asar-i Ajam (Monuments of Persia), an illustrated geographical and biographical dictionary of the city of Shiraz. Mahmud Shirazi’s compact rendition of the grape-bearing vine scrolls recalls earlier illuminations of the celebrated late Safavid illuminator Muhammad Hadi (d. 1771), such as those found in the carpet-pages of a prayer book in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2003.239) and in a signed lacquer binding in the Astan-i Quds Museum in Mashhad. Similarly, the revival naskh script of the manuscript is in the tradition of the master Ahmad Nairizi (active from 1676–7 to ca. 1740) or one of his later followers, possibly Muhammad Shafiʻ (Visal-i Shirazi, 1782–1854).

 

The binding doublures each feature a single iris in gold against a black ground with an inscription that reveals the name of the illuminator and the name of the patron, Nasir al-Mulk Shirazi. Nasir al-Mulk was an influential minister and patron of the arts in the later years of Nasir al-Din Shah’s reign. The various inscriptions and annotations tell us that Nasir al-Mulk donated this manuscript to the royal library in A.H. 1323/1904–5, ten years after it was completed, when he was governor of Kurdistan and Garrus.

 

Commissioned by a minister and beautifully executed by a known court illuminator from Shiraz, this manuscript is both an important historical object and an outstanding work of art completed in the last year of the shah’s rule.

 

— Maryam Ekhtiar 


Notes
[1] Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, also known as Mulla Baqir or ʻAllama, was a prolific writer known for his anti-Sunni and anti-Sufi policies.


References
Avery, Peter, Gavin Hambly, and Charles Melville. Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780521200950
Bamdad, Mehdi. "Sharh-i Hal-i Rijal-i". Iran Vol. 1, Tehran: Intisharat-i Zavvar, 1992, 358–59.
Karimzadeh-Tabrizi, Muhammad Ali. "Ahval va Asar-i Naqqashan-i Qadim-I". Iran Vol. 3, London, 1985, 1117–18.
Welch, Anthony and Stuart Cary Welch. Arts of the Islamic Book: The Collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982, 136–7. ISBN: 9780801498824

Note: This online resource is reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. We are committed to improving this information and will revise and update knowledge about this object as it becomes available.

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