Lot 48: A QAJAR ILLUMINATED DEVOTIONAL CALLIGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT PANEL BY MURAD HUSSAIN AFSHARI IRAN, DATED 1280 A.H.

A QAJAR ILLUMINATED DEVOTIONAL CALLIGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT PANEL BY MURAD HUSSAIN AFSHARI IRAN, DATED 1280 A.H.

This 19th-century Qajar Persian devotional manuscript panel is executed in ink, pigments, and gold leaf on hand-laid paper. The work functions as a protective amulet or devotional display, featuring intricate thuluth and naskh calligraphy alongside traditional Persian illumination (tazhib). The composition is divided into three primary horizontal registers. The top section consists of a highly ornate sarlowh (headpiece) decorated with floral arabesques and central lobed medallions in blue, red, and gold. A central blue cartouche contains the Basmala ("Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim") in white script. The outer border of the upper section contains the beginning of the Ayat al-Kursi (Throne Verse, Quran 2:255). The central register comprises a 10 by 5 grid of fifty rectangular cartouches, each containing an epithet or name associated with the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali, written in red ink. The bottom register is centred on a gilded Hamsa (Hand of Fatima or Ali). Inside the palm are concentric circles; the black central disc bears the invocation "Ya Ali, " the surrounding red ring lists the Panj-tan-e-Pak (the five holy souls of the Prophet’s family), and the outer cream rings contain the names of the Twelve Imams. The fingers of the hand are inscribed with the Nad-e-Ali prayer. Blue calligraphic banners above and below the hand contain famous Hadiths: "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate" at the top, and "There is no hero but Ali, there is no sword but Zulfiqar" at the bottom. The illumination uses a traditional palette of lapis lazuli blue, deep red, and extensive gold leaf, characteristic of mid-Qajar period production. At the bottom centre, a small colophon inscription is painted in black ink. It is written by Murad Hussain Afshari dated 1280 A.H.

83 by 32cm