Sa'di, Kulliyat, with eight miniatures, Persia, late 16th Century

Persian manuscript on paper, 418 leaves, 11 lines to the page written in nasta'liq script in black ink, and further text of Bustan written diagonally in the area between the text panel and the outer margins, some words in gold, inner margins ruled in colours and gold, headings in gold and blue, occasional illuminated panels beside headings, one double-page illuminated frontispiece (the opening to the preface), one further illuminated headpiece (the opening to the Gulistan), eight miniatures in gouache and gold, colophon defaced, Qajar lacquer binding in the style of Najaf 'Ali, covers depicting the Virgin Mary with Joseph and with the Christ Child, inner covers depicting scholars in disputation
270 x 175 mm.

Provenance
The estate of a distinguished Iranian academic, California, USA.

The illustrations, which are in the style of Tabriz or Qazvin, are as follows:

1. A sufi before a ruler, present proof in reply to accusations against his people (from the section on the manners of Kings).
2. The hermit who was seduced by the King's offerings (from the section on the manners of Dervishes). There is the same oval seal impression of a certain Lutfallah dated AH 1211/AD 1796-97.
3. The sailor comes to the rescue of the youth (from the section on contentment).
4. The judge who was found drunk (from the section on love and youth).
5. Youths seated in a landscape: a reference to a ghazal of Sa'di (the scribe says he found it in an old manuscript, not included in his contemporary copies), which states that there is nothing better than when a friend becomes the candle of a gathering. This comes after the end of Gulistan. Oval seal impression of Lutfallah dated AH 1211/AD 1796-97.
6. An illustration of the opening couplets from one of Sa'di's ghazals, referring to the coming of spring, blossoming trees, nightingales singing and the world becoming young and friends joyful.
7. A group of sages visiting an older sage to consult him: from the hazliyyat. The story refers to a sage who runs wild and makes love to a girl contrary to his promise not to, and to compensate, gives her lots of gold. He then passes her on to his friends who afterwards feel uncomfortable and go to the head sage telling him of what had happened, asking for his advice. He gives them a reply, that this is the way of the world and all sides benefit.
8. A scene about a man who has been married off to the unattractive and bad-tempered daughter of a rich man. He discovers what she is like on the wedding night, complains and the divorce is eventually agreed (from the hazliyyat (jests, pleasantries), one of the sections censored in modern publications. With a circular seal impression, an invocation to God, probably 17th Century: ya khafi al-altaf najna mimma nakhaf, 'O the One who knows what is hidden, protect us from what we fear'.

In short, the manuscript depicts four episodes from the Gulistan, two from the hazliyyats (censored in modern editions) and two from his ghazals.

The double-page illuminated frontispiece is the beginning of the preface to the Kulliyyat of Sa'di by 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr Bistun (composed in AH 734/1333-4).
The illuminated opening to Sa'di's Gulistan has an oval seal impression of a certain Lutfallah dated AH 1211/AD 1796-97.

The covers of the binding depict the Virgin Mary, Joseph and maidens, and the Adoration of Mary and the Christ Child). For a similar depiction, attributed to Najaf 'Ali and dated to the early 19th century see N. D. Khalili, B. W. Robinson and T. Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands: Part Two, Oxford 1997, pp. 36-37, no. 233. The inside covers show a a group of scholars in discourse, and an Indian prince before a sage: for this last scene see a very similar example in Khalili, Robinson and Stanley, Lacquer of the Islamic Lands: Part One, Oxford 1996, p. 143, no. 106).

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