In the School of Wisdom: Persian Bookbinding, ca. 1575-1890

Little is known about the arts of the book in the fractious political climate of 18th century Iran, following the fall of the Safavids in the 1720's. Some manuscripts certainly continued to be produced on a commercial basis. Centralized patronage seems to have reemerged under Fath-ʻAli Shah (r. 1797-1834), the second ruler of the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925). Columbia is fortunate to hold at least four volumes. These include not only courtly commissions but also those written by members of the royal family itself, namely two of Fath-ʻAli Shah’s numerous progeny.

Mahmud Mirza Qajar (1799-ca. 1856) was one of the most important princes of his day, serving both as a governor and active patron of the arts; he was also a poet, anthologist, and sometime calligraphy tutor to royal women. The binding of his Divan (Selected Poems) differs radically from the monochromatic golden hues which largely defined 18th century work. Few comparanda to its color scheme are known from other collections, making it difficult to associate with a specific workshop.

Mansha’ insha’ al-kalam (On the Origin of the Essay) appears to be an autograph manuscript by Tajli Begom Khanom (d. unknown), one of Fath-ʻAli Shah’s daughters. The binding, mismatched in size to the pages, is clearly not original. It is possible that the manuscript, purchased by Columbia in 1911, originally possessed a fine pair of boards which were removed by a bookseller to be either reused or sold separately. By contrast, the other three books grouped here were gifts from David Eugene Smith; these were likely part of a larger group of manuscripts given to him in turn Reza Shah Pahlavi in the mid-1930’s.

Mashariq al-anvar is one of the more physically imposing volumes in the collection. Written by a royal astrologer, Sinan al-Munajjim, it is one of several extant horoscopes for Fath-‘Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834). The cover is decorated in an all-over garden motif composed, like Mahmud Mirza’s Divan, primarily of pinks and creamy orange, surrounded by a separate border register of small blossoms. These relatively soft hues and matte finish seem to have been in vogue only briefly, having an appearance closer to polychromed leather than lacquer.

The final volume again links back to Fath-'Ali Shah. This copy of Jaʻfar ibn Abi Ishaq Kashi’s Tuhfat al-muluk (Gift of Kings) was copied in 1233 AH/1818 CE by Muhammad Fazil Herati. The text was commissioned by Muhammad Taqi Mirza (1791-1853), another Qajar prince, as a gift to his father. One can tell, by glancing even briefly at the design, that the book is bound in leather: it deploys a standard arrangement of a central lemon-shaped lozenge, flanking palmettes, and bent corner-pieces. Although blind-stamped versions were common for centuries, polychrome-painted examples like this are relatively rare. Even more unusually, the outer border of the front and back boards are inscribed with a saying (hadith) attributed to the Prophet Muhammad about the benefits of the Qur’an. This inscription was actually a later addition, explicitly dated at the end to 1244 AH/1828 CE. It may serve, in part, to authenticate the book as “pious” in the face of its unusual contents.