The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This is a deluxe copy of the Khamsah (quintet) of Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (d. 725 AH / 1325 CE). The manuscript was written in nastaʿlīq script by one of the greatest calligraphers of the Mughal atelier, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Kashmīrī, honored with the epithet Zarrīn Qalam (golden pen). This copy of Dihlavī's Khamsah, likely produced in Lahore (present-day Pakistan) in the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE, is associated with the patronage of Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH / 1556-1605 CE). The manuscript bears the names of a number of painters and illuminators. The illustrations bear ascriptions to the following artists: Laʿl (Lāl), Manūhar, Sānwalah, Farrukh, Alīqulī, Dharamdās, Narsing, Jagannāth, Miskīnā, Mukund, and Sūrdās Gujarātī. The illuminators are Ḥusayn Naqqāsh, Manṣūr Naqqāsh, Khvājah Jān Shīrāzī, and Luṭf Allāh Muẕahhib. The borders are all elaborately illuminated with animal, bird, and geometric motifs, as well as human figures engaged in such activities as hunting, praying, and reading. The lacquer binding, decorated with pictorial scenes, is contemporary with the manuscript. Eight leaves from this copy of the Khamsah of Dihlavī are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.228.26-33).
Written in nastaʿlīq script in black, red, and blue ink
artist: Manṣūr Naqqāsh
artist: Khvājah Jān Shīrāzī
artist: Luṭf Allāh muẕahhib
artist: Ḥusayn Naqqāsh
Lāl: Laʿl (artist)
artist: Manūhar
artist: Sānwalah
artist: Farrukh
artist: ʿAlīqulī
artist: Dharamdās
artist: Narsing
artist: Jagannāth
artist: Miskīnā
artist: Mukund
artist: Sūrdās Gujarātī
Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam
Cataloger: Landau, Amy
Cataloger: Smith, Sita
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Barrera, Christina
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Simpson, Shreve
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Valle, Chiara
Conservator: Jewell, Stephanie
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Brend, Barbara. "Akbar's Khamsah of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi: A Reconstruction of the Cycle of Illustrations." Artibus Asiae 49 (1988/89): 281-315.
Verma, Som Prakash. Mughal Painters and their Work: A Biographical Survey and Comprehensive Catalogue. Aligarh: Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University; Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Seyller, John. Pearls of the Parrot of India: The Walters Art Museum Khamsa of Amīr Khusraw of Delhi. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2001.
Brend, Barbara. Perspectives on Persian Painting: Illustrations to Amīr Khusrau's Khamsah. London; New York: Routledge/Curzon, 2003.
Blair, Sheila. Islamic Calligraphy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Probably Lahore (present-day Pakistan)
The date reads 142 (!). It has been interpreted as the 42nd year of Emperor Akbar's reign, i.e. March 1597 -- March 1598 CE.
book
Original Binding
Lacquer with pictorial scenes (no flap): upper board depicts an encounter between a prince and a reclusive sage; lower board depicts a host of fairies pummeling some outnumbered dīvs; doublures decorated with a field of small floral patterns; restored probably in Europe in the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE
The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.
Oval seal: Muḥammad Zakī, 1241 AH / 1825-6 CE
Oval seal: Muḥammad Zakī, 1241 AH / 1825-6 CE
Rectangular seal: ʿabd al-rājī Muḥammad Shafīʿ, 1247 AH / 1831-2 CE
Large oval seal: Muhammad ʿAlī, no date
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
Probably Lahore (present-day Pakistan)
The date reads 142 (!). It has been interpreted as the 42nd year of Emperor Akbar's reign, i.e. March 1597 -- March 1598 CE.
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.
Oval seal: Muḥammad Zakī, 1241 AH / 1825-6 CE
Oval seal: Muḥammad Zakī, 1241 AH / 1825-6 CE
Rectangular seal: ʿabd al-rājī Muḥammad Shafīʿ, 1247 AH / 1831-2 CE
Large oval seal: Muhammad ʿAlī, no date
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
This is a deluxe copy of the Khamsah (quintet) of Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (d. 725 AH / 1325 CE). The manuscript was written in nastaʿlīq script by one of the greatest calligraphers of the Mughal atelier, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Kashmīrī, honored with the epithet Zarrīn Qalam (golden pen). This copy of Dihlavī's Khamsah, likely produced in Lahore (present-day Pakistan) in the late tenth century AH / sixteenth CE, is associated with the patronage of Akbar (r. 963-1014 AH / 1556-1605 CE). The manuscript bears the names of a number of painters and illuminators. The illustrations bear ascriptions to the following artists: Laʿl (Lāl), Manūhar, Sānwalah, Farrukh, Alīqulī, Dharamdās, Narsing, Jagannāth, Miskīnā, Mukund, and Sūrdās Gujarātī. The illuminators are Ḥusayn Naqqāsh, Manṣūr Naqqāsh, Khvājah Jān Shīrāzī, and Luṭf Allāh Muẕahhib. The borders are all elaborately illuminated with animal, bird, and geometric motifs, as well as human figures engaged in such activities as hunting, praying, and reading. The lacquer binding, decorated with pictorial scenes, is contemporary with the manuscript. Eight leaves from this copy of the Khamsah of Dihlavī are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.228.26-33).
Written in nastaʿlīq script in black, red, and blue ink
artist: Manṣūr Naqqāsh
artist: Khvājah Jān Shīrāzī
artist: Luṭf Allāh muẕahhib
artist: Ḥusayn Naqqāsh
Lāl: Laʿl (artist)
artist: Manūhar
artist: Sānwalah
artist: Farrukh
artist: ʿAlīqulī
artist: Dharamdās
artist: Narsing
artist: Jagannāth
artist: Miskīnā
artist: Mukund
artist: Sūrdās Gujarātī
Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam
Cataloger: Landau, Amy
Cataloger: Smith, Sita
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Barrera, Christina
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Simpson, Shreve
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Valle, Chiara
Conservator: Jewell, Stephanie
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Brend, Barbara. "Akbar's Khamsah of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi: A Reconstruction of the Cycle of Illustrations." Artibus Asiae 49 (1988/89): 281-315.
Verma, Som Prakash. Mughal Painters and their Work: A Biographical Survey and Comprehensive Catalogue. Aligarh: Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University; Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Seyller, John. Pearls of the Parrot of India: The Walters Art Museum Khamsa of Amīr Khusraw of Delhi. Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2001.
Brend, Barbara. Perspectives on Persian Painting: Illustrations to Amīr Khusrau's Khamsah. London; New York: Routledge/Curzon, 2003.
Blair, Sheila. Islamic Calligraphy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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