Jalal Al-Din Rumi - Mathnawi complete - 1812

A 200+ year old complete illuminated Mathnawi manuscript of 398 pages, copied from Jalal Al-Din Rumi's epic work, with multiple illuminations, dated 1812. Most pages are set out as 20ll. of black nasta'liq in four columns. Gold and Black ruled divisions, gold margins between back rules, blue outer rule, rules outer margins. Headers generally in red, some illuminated (see images 6j-6o). Several larger headings throughout (see image e.g 6w and 6x). Each Book (Volume) is preceded with a half-page illuminated headpiece in typical of the artwork of Safavid Persia, with elaborate blue, gold and multi-coloured floral patterns. Each headpiece is different.

Signed by Hafiz Rasul Kafi and dated (d.AH 672/1273 AD) or 1812-13.

The Masnavi, which means “Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning,” is a profound work of religious poetry, intended somewhat as a guide to Sufi morals and ethics, and consists of 6 books (volumes) of over 25,000 rhymed couplets (verses) containing hundreds of interconnected stories and mystical teachings. The books are often grouped by theme, with the first two books focusing on the lower self (nafs), the third and fourth on reason and knowledge, and the fifth and sixth on self-annihilation in God. The stories encourage a reflexive, mystical response, emphasising the importance of love to transcendent attachments to the world, and dismisses concerns for worldly reputation, literal-mindedness and intellectualism.

Provenance Christie's Auction House London. 1995 -see image 6ee.

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