خمسۀ نظامی

Walters Ms. W.610, Five poems (quintet)

Walters Ms. W.610, Five poems (quintet)

Khamsah-i Niẓāmī

خمسه نظامى

Niẓāmī Ganjavī, 1140 or 41-1202 or 3 (author)

Ilyās ibn Yūsuf Niẓāmī Ganjavī (author)

الياس بن يوسف نظامى گنجوى (author)

This illuminated and illustrated copy of the Khamsah (quintet) of Niẓāmī Ganjavī (d. 605 AH / 1209 CE) was executed in Safavid Iran and dates to the middle of the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE. There are six colophons in Arabic that supply neither the date nor the scribe's name (fols. 31b, 119a, 175a, 238a, 325a, and 371a). The text is written in black nastaʿlīq script with section headings in blue. Twenty paintings attributable to the Shiraz school illustrate the text. The dark brown leather binding with central ovals and pendants, all brushed with gold, is original to the manuscript. For full description, see http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W610/description.html

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Arabic.

Twenty illustrations; double-page illuminated frontispiece; titlepieces; tailpieces; frame

fol. 1b Double-page illuminated frontispiece Frontispiece; titlepiece This is the right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece with the beginning of the text of the first poem of the Khamsah: Makhzan al-asrār. The inscription above the text in light pink (on both sides) reads: Kitāb-i Khamsah-i Shaykh-i Niẓāmī.

fol. 2a Double-page illuminated frontispiece Frontispiece; titlepiece This is the left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece with the beginning of the text of the first poem of the Khamsah: Makhzan al-asrār. The inscription above the text in light pink (on both sides) reads: Kitāb-i Khamsah-i Shaykh-i Niẓāmī.

fol. 16a An old woman implores Sultan Sanjar for help Illustration

fol. 31b Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece Incipit; titlepiece This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the second poem of the Khamsah: Kitāb-i Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. 47a Khusraw watching Shīrīn bathing Illustration

fol. 55a Khusraw and Shīrīn play polo Illustration

fol. 62b Khusraw fights Bahrām Chūbīnah Illustration

fol. 91b Khusraw comes to visit Shīrīn at her palace Illustration

fol. 119b Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece Incipit; titlepiece This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the third poem of the Khamsah: Kitāb-i Laylá va Majnūn.

fol. 130a Laylá and Majūn (Qays) at school Illustration

fol. 145a An old woman leads Majnūn by a chain in front of Laylá’s tent Illustration

fol. 167a Laylá and Majnūn faint at the sight of each other Illustration

fol. 175b Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece Incipit; titlepiece This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the fourth poem of the Khamsah: Kitāb-i Haft paykar.

fol. 194b Bahrām Gūr watches Fitnah carry a bull Illustration

fol. 206b Bahrām Gūr in the yellow pavilion Illustration

fol. 212a Bahrām Gūr in the red pavilion Illustration

fol. 235a The hanging of Bahrām Gūr’s unjust vizier Illustration

fol. 238b Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece Incipit; titlepiece This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the first part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah: Kitāb-i Sharafnāmah-i Iskandarī.

fol. 249a The birth of Alexander the Great Illustration

fol. 256b Alexander the Great kills an Ethiopian warrior Illustration

fol. 270a Alexander the Great mourns the death of Darius Illustration

fol. 284a Alexander the Great meets Nushābah in her palace Illustration

fol. 295b Alexander the Great hunting on his way to China Illustration

fol. 320a Alexander the Great and the prophet Khiḍr (Khiz̤r) in front of the Fountain of Life Illustration

fol. 325b Incipit page with illuminated titlepiece Incipit; titlepiece This incipit page has an illuminated titlepiece inscribed with the title of the second part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah: Kitāb-i Iqbālnāmah-i Iskandarī.

fol. 338b The seventy Greek scholars struck dead by the curse of Hermes Illustration

fol. 345a Alexander the Great and the seven philosophers Illustration

Mid 10th century AH / 16th CE

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Persian

Arabic

paper

image/jpeg

1550

All Walters manuscript images and descriptions provided here are copyrighted © The Walters Art Museum.