Gulistan

Accession number:

MS M.1184

Title:

Gulistan

Created:

1798-1799 (1213 AH).

Binding:

Stamped brown leather.

Description:

49 folios (1 column, 15 lines), : paper, handmade ; 190 x 115 mm.

Provenance:

Purchased by Gladys E. Cook in Paris, 1958; bequeathed to her nephew, Robert G. Calkins, who gave it to the Morgan Library, 2013.

Notes:

Bhagavad Gītā and selections from the Mahābhārata.
15 lines of text in center field with 30 diagonal lines of commentary written in the margins.
Decoration: Fols.1v-2r: elaborate facing pages (surlauhs) in blue and gold, in typical Kashmiri patterns (also used for shawls); six lines of script reserved in white against a gold background. Triangles with gold floral ornament.
Artist: Musharrif al-Din ibn Muslih al-Din 'bdullah, known as Sa'di.
Ownership stamps on folios 1v, 2, 49v.
The Gulistan was originally composed in 1258 A.D. by Sa'di (c. 1184-1291), which, along with his Bustan are two of the best known works of Persian literature.
Related frontispieces are reproduced by A. Adamova and T. Greck, Miniatures from Kashmirian Manuscripts, Leningrad, 1976, plates 1, 41. Kashmiri copies of the Gulistan are often illustrated, but the Calkins copy has no miniatures.

Variant Title:

The Rose Garden.

Script:

nasta'liq

Language:

Persian

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

18th century

Genres:

Illuminated manuscripts