Lot n° 129
Estimation :
6000 - 8000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 26 880EUR
Cosmography book, Iran, 17th century and... - Lot 129 - Ader
Cosmography book, Iran, 17th century and later
Incomplete manuscript on paper with twelve lines of text per page in Persian nasta'liq in black ink on a gold powdered background, spread over two columns. First double-page richly illuminated in gold and polychrome, the text in reserve on a gold background under a frontispiece in sarlow with a mantling decoration decorated with scrolls and surmounting two cartouches inscribed in reserve on a black background. Gilded animal decoration in the margins, bluish in the bands separating the columns of text. At the heart of the manuscript, two double-pages with margins illuminated in gold with an animal decoration around a miniature: the first one representing a pelican around which gravitates a large number of birds, some of them diving into its open beak; the second one representing a pachyderm that can evoke the rhinoceros with its horn on the nose, giving birth in a landscape. Handwritten comments in French at the head of the book and owners' stamps. Binding with animal decoration painted in gold and in polychrome and lacquered on the boards, with medallion decoration with flowered appendices painted on the red morocco of the back covers.
25,8 x 15,5 cm
Text remargined, later repaints and restorations, stains, foxing, small wetnesses, accidents, detached folios, chips.
Provenance:
Sotheby's, London, Hagop Kevorkian fund, April 23, 1979, lot 175
This text belongs to the category of cosmographic works describing real or imaginary creatures inhabiting the celestial and terrestrial worlds. It is probably a Persian adaptation of the famous 'Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat by al-Qazwini (1203-1283). The marvelous aspect of this type of work makes it suitable for the illustration of creatures that are sometimes difficult to identify, such as our female pachyderm.
A Cosmography Manuscript, Iran, 17th century and later
Private collection in Paris from 1975 to 2000 - first part (lots 120 to 173).
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