Sa'di, Kulliyat, poetry, copied by 'Abd al-Karim al-Tabataba'i, Qajar Persia, begun in AH 1267/AD 1850-51, completed on Rabi' II 1268/January-February 1852

Persian manuscript on paper, 268 leaves, 24 lines to the page written in fine nasta'liq script in black, horizontally in a central column, 17 lines written diagonally in left and right columns, headings and significant words in red ink, intercolumnar rules in gold, inner margins ruled in gold and blue, illuminated double-page frontispiece, six further double-page section openings in colours and gold, lacquer binding in the style of Razi, with central medallions, doublures with stylised gilt floral motifs on a red ground
255 x 160 mm.

Provenance
Private UK collection.

'Abd al-Karim al-Tabataba'i is recorded as a little-known calligrapher of the 19th Century, with only two works by him known, one in the Gulistan Palace Library in Tehran, dated AH 1269/AD 1852-53, and another (in the Tehran market) made for Mirza Taqi Khan Amir-e Kabir and dated AH 1265/AD 1848-49. (See Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. 2, Tehran 1346 sh., pp. 412-13).

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