MAQAMAT AL-HARIRI (ASSEMBLIES) Ottoman Lands, Lebanon or Syria, dated 1190...
MAQAMAT AL-HARIRI (ASSEMBLIES)
ABU MUHAMMAD AL-QASIM IBN’ALI IBN MUHAMMAD AL-HARIRI (D. 516 AH / 1122 AD)
Ottoman Lands, Lebanon or Syria, dated 1190 AH (1776 AD)
Arabic manuscript on paper, composed of 186 leaves, 15 lines to the page written in naskh script, markers and significant words and sentences picked out in red throughout the manuscripts, gilded titles, catchwords and extensive comments in outer margins, the frontispiece illuminated with unwan featuring a traditional lobed dome motif containing red and gilded flowers admist light blue leaves, with a contemporary red leather binding with flap.
26cm x 20.5cm
Al-Maqamat (Assemblies) is one of the most celebrated masterpieces of classical Arabic literature. It is a collection of 50 tales in rhymed prose and poetry, recounting the adventures of Abu Zayd, a clever wanderer who exploits his eloquence for gain. The stories are narrated by al-Harith who serves as observer and witness. The text is notable for its wit and linguistic virtuosity with the inclusion of sajʿ (rhymed prose) and a model of rhetorical mastery (balagha).
...'What the Maqamat did 'was to invest with the literary graces of saj' [rhymed prose] and the glamour of impromptu composition the old-time tale in alternate prose and verse... and, by a stroke of genius, to adopt as the mouthpiece of [its] art that familiar figure in popular story, the witty vagabond.' … 'It is, in fact, difficult to imagine that the Arabic language has ever been handled with more consummate skill under such restrictions. There are sections composed exclusively of words with double meanings, series of sentences ending in rhyming syllables or with regular combinations of consonants throughout, and poems utilizing only certain letters of the alphabet.' (Kritzeck J., Anthology of Islamic Literature from the rise of Islam to Modern Times, 1964, p. 193).
The father of this literary genre (maqama) is considered the Persian Badi Al-Zaman Al-Hamadhani (c. 968–1008 AD), but al-Ḥariri is definitely the one who made it famous. The first illustrated copies of this text were produced at the beginning of the 13th century (cfr. Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris Arabe 3929 - 6094 and 5847) as the text is often associated with the Baghdad school which flourished during the late 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, marking the emergence of one of the earliest figurative traditions in Islamic art.
Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali Muhammad ibn Uthman Al-Hariri was born in Basra, today in Iraq, in 1054-55 AD from a wealthy silk-trading family. He was a well known Arab philologist and grammarian of the Abbasid Caliphate who also served as government official. Al-Hariri is best known for this literary masterpiece but he also authored treatises on grammar and poetry.
Literature:
Brockelmann GAL I 276, 277.
For similar examples:
The Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS. Ind. Inst. Arab. 8)
Christie’s London, Art of the Islamic and Indian World, 8 April 2011, lot 36.
Provenance:
The collection of Georges Antaki.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
MAQAMAT AL-HARIRI (ASSEMBLIES)
ABU MUHAMMAD AL-QASIM IBN’ALI IBN MUHAMMAD AL-HARIRI (D. 516 AH / 1122 AD)
Ottoman Lands, Lebanon or Syria, dated 1190 AH (1776 AD)
Arabic manuscript on paper, composed of 186 leaves, 15 lines to the page written in naskh script, markers and significant words and sentences picked out in red throughout the manuscripts, gilded titles, catchwords and extensive comments in outer margins, the frontispiece illuminated with unwan featuring a traditional lobed dome motif containing red and gilded flowers admist light blue leaves, with a contemporary red leather binding with flap.
26cm x 20.5cm
Al-Maqamat (Assemblies) is one of the most celebrated masterpieces of classical Arabic literature. It is a collection of 50 tales in rhymed prose and poetry, recounting the adventures of Abu Zayd, a clever wanderer who exploits his eloquence for gain. The stories are narrated by al-Harith who serves as observer and witness. The text is notable for its wit and linguistic virtuosity with the inclusion of sajʿ (rhymed prose) and a model of rhetorical mastery (balagha).
...'What the Maqamat did 'was to invest with the literary graces of saj' [rhymed prose] and the glamour of impromptu composition the old-time tale in alternate prose and verse... and, by a stroke of genius, to adopt as the mouthpiece of [its] art that familiar figure in popular story, the witty vagabond.' … 'It is, in fact, difficult to imagine that the Arabic language has ever been handled with more consummate skill under such restrictions. There are sections composed exclusively of words with double meanings, series of sentences ending in rhyming syllables or with regular combinations of consonants throughout, and poems utilizing only certain letters of the alphabet.' (Kritzeck J., Anthology of Islamic Literature from the rise of Islam to Modern Times, 1964, p. 193).
The father of this literary genre (maqama) is considered the Persian Badi Al-Zaman Al-Hamadhani (c. 968–1008 AD), but al-Ḥariri is definitely the one who made it famous. The first illustrated copies of this text were produced at the beginning of the 13th century (cfr. Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris Arabe 3929 - 6094 and 5847) as the text is often associated with the Baghdad school which flourished during the late 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, marking the emergence of one of the earliest figurative traditions in Islamic art.
Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali Muhammad ibn Uthman Al-Hariri was born in Basra, today in Iraq, in 1054-55 AD from a wealthy silk-trading family. He was a well known Arab philologist and grammarian of the Abbasid Caliphate who also served as government official. Al-Hariri is best known for this literary masterpiece but he also authored treatises on grammar and poetry.
Literature:
Brockelmann GAL I 276, 277.
For similar examples:
The Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS. Ind. Inst. Arab. 8)
Christie’s London, Art of the Islamic and Indian World, 8 April 2011, lot 36.
Provenance:
The collection of Georges Antaki.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
