Illuminated first page / identification note of the "Farhang-i Jahangiri"

Illuminated first page from "Farhang-i Jahangiri" a Persian-language dictionary by Jamal al-Din Husayn b. Fakhr al-Din Hasan Inju Shirazi, from 1619 in Nasta'liq. Dimensions of Written Surface: Recto: 11 (w) x 11.8 (h) cm. Dimensions of Written Surface: Verso: 13.5 (w) x 3.5 (h) cm The author of this Persian-language farhang (dictionary) was Jamal al-Din Husayn b. Fakhr al-Din Hasan Inju Shirazi (d. 1035/1626), a learned man from an old Persian noble (sayyid) family who came from Persia to Akbar's court in India. There, he held high offices and began writing his dictionary in 1005/1596-7 at the ruler's request, basing himself on Persian poems and previous lexicographical works. Due to the scope of his farhang and continuous revisions, he did not complete the dictionary until after Akbar's (d. 1014/1605) death, presenting the work in 1608 to his successor Jahangir instead. For this reason, Jamal al-Din's Persian dictionary came to be known as the the "Farhang-i Jahangiri", or "Jahangir's dictionary." Along with the "Burhan-i Qati'" and the "Farhang-i Rashidi", it is one of the three most important Persian-language dictionaries produced in Mughal India (Rypka 1968, 431). The first page of the farhang includes a lavish illumination (sarloh) followed by an Arabic bismillah ("In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful") written in gold on a blue ground and followed by a translation in Persian. Then follows Jamal al-Din's introduction, which identifies the work as a farhang or lughatnamah (book of words) containing a number of Persian- and Arabic-language words (lughat) and expressions (istalahat) compiled from a variety of works in prose (nazm) and verse (shi'r). After his introduction, he includes an excerpt of poetry in Persian, whose verses are separated by three small dots executed in red ink. The note on the verso identifies Jamal al-Din's work as having been completed in the Mughal capital (dar al-sultanah) Agra in the month of Jumadah I 1028/April 1619. Below the note appears a smeared area, which may have contained a former owner's ex-libris mark or reading statement. A sheet of gold also has been added to the lower part of the folio, camouflaging two seal impressions. Below the smudge and on top of the gold leaf appears a later note written in diagonal giving the truncated title of the work, i.e., "Kitab-i Farhang" (Dictionary). The text is framed by lavish gold illuminated borders and margins decorated with putti, phoenixes, and grapes painted in gold ink. During the early 20th century, a section of the "Farhang-i Jahangiri" was acquired by the French art dealer Demotte, who cut out its pages and used the decorative margins as mounts for Safavid and Mughal paintings (Sotheby's London, Arts of the Islamic World, 3 May 2001, lot 61). In some cases, paintings remounted on margins originally intended for the dictionary retain the marginal glosses accompanying the main text (see York Leach 1992: 64, and cat. nos. 16 and 20). This fragment provides the first page of the "Farhang-i Jahangiri", a Persian lexicon purportedly executed in Agra in 1028/1618-19 (1-87-154.61d V). A total of four folios of this work are held in the collections of the Library of Congress (see 1-87-154.61a R &V, 1-85-154-61b R & V, 1-85-154-61c R & V). Script: nasta'liq 1-87-154.61d