Description:

DIVAN AL JAMI, COPIED BY SHAH MAHMUD HISAPURI, DATED 963AH/1555-56, WRITTEN FOR SULTAN IBRAHIM MIRZA, SAFAVID 

miniatures attributed to Abdullah Al-Muzahhib

Catalogue note: 

Shah Mahmud Nishapuri, one of the leading calligraphers at the court of Shah Tahmasp (reigned 1524–76), copied this manuscript the writing is exquisite, and the care with which the manuscript is laid out and illuminated reflects the high level of patronage in Tahmasp's court. Shah Mahmud Nishapuri, known as Zarinqalam, or "golden pen", served Tahmasp until 1557, when he moved to Mashhad; he remained there until his death, at the age of eighty, in 972/1564–65. The binding, with its design elements in pronounced relief and red-dyed leather, most likely dates to 75 to 100 years later than the manuscript, which would not be unusual because bindings were often reused.

Shāh Mahmud, known as Zarrin Qalam (“the Golden Pen”), was born around 1495 CE in Nishāpur and learned the fundamentals of calligraphy from his maternal uncle, ‘Abdi Nishāpuri and later from Soltān Mohammad Khandān.

Though his very first dated writings (from 923 AH/1517 CE) relate to the reign of Shāh Ismā‘il I, it is very likely that in his youth he entered the court of Shāh Tahmāsp Safavi (1524-1576 CE).  After living in Tabriz, around the time when the Safavid capital moved from Tabriz to Qazvin, he immigrated to Mashhad where he lived and occupied himself with writing books in Nasta‘liq until the end of his life.

He taught a number of students, among them Salim Nishāpuri, Hājj Mohammad Tabrizi, Mohammad Hosayn Bākhrazi, Soltān Mahmud Torbati and Qotb-al-Din Yazdi.

In a span of almost sixty years, from 1517 CE to 1574 CE, Shāh Mahmud wrote a number of manuscripts in addition to several copies of collections of "Forty Hadiths."  Among his most important works are the first Qur’an copied in Nasta‘liq (which is now kept in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul) and the Khamsa-ye Tahmāspi (which is held in the British Museum).

The last of his dated works was written in 982 AH/1574 CE, evidence that he lived in Mashhad until that time.  In biographies he is often described as a dervish and is reported to have also produced lyrical writings.

Ibrahim Mirza, Solṭān Ebrāhīm Mīrzā, in full Abu'l Fat'h Sultan Ibrahim Mirza (Persian: ابوالفتح سلطان ابراهیم میرزا; April 1540 – 23 February 1577) was a Persian prince of the Safavid dynasty, who was a favourite of his uncle and father-in-law Shah Tahmasp I, but who was executed by Tahmasp's successor, the Shah Ismail II. Ibrahim is now mainly remembered as a patron of the arts, especially the Persian miniature. Although most of his library and art collection was apparently destroyed by his wife after his murder, surviving works commissioned by him include the manuscript of the Haft Awrang of the poet Jami which is now in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C

Please note, another book written for Sultan Ibrahim Mirza, also signed by Shah Mahmud has been published by Marianna Shreve Simpson, who is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania has published "Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang" which can be used as a comparable example, currently with Freer Gallery Art

Length x Width: 30.5 x 21.5cm

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November 4, 2025 1:00 PM GMT
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