Verses in Persian and Chaghatay

Poetry written in nasta'liq script in Persian & Chaghatay Turkish (Central Asian Turkish). Persian poems by Sa'di (d. 691/1292) Chaghatay poems by Mir 'Ali Shir Nava'i (d. 1501), Patron: Husayn Bayqara (r. 1470-1506) Timurid era. Dimensions of Written Surface: 15.1 (w) x 24 (h) cm In the central text panel, verses in Chaghatay Turkish are written in black nasta'liq script on a beige paper which, like the Persian verses on the same page, are surrounded by cloud bands on a gold background. The verses in Chaghatay Turkish are most likely to have been drawn from the Compendium (Divan) of poetry composed by Mir 'Ali Shir Nava'i (d. 1501), a powerful statesman during the rule of the last Timurid ruler Husayn Bayqara (r. 1470-1506) and a champion of Turkish language and literature. In the lower left corner of the main textual panel containing the Chaghatay verses appears a minute signature by the calligrapher Mir 'Imad, whose name (Mir 'Imad Hasani) also appears in white ink immediately above the text page between two flowers painted on the green decorative sheet. The calligrapher's name on the decorative frame provides an a posteriori attribution upon the mounting of the fragment onto a decorative album page. The text panels also are cut out and pasted together, hinting that the texts originally would not have appeared together. Many works in international collections are signed by Mir 'Imad (inter alia, Safwat 1996, cat. nos. 53 and 62; and Lowry and Beach 1988: no. 456), although whether all these pieces are by his hand remains uncertain. Other calligraphies bearing his name in the collections of the Library of Congress include: 1-84-154.3, 1-84-154.43, 1-85-154.72, 1-85-154.77, 1-87-154.160, and 1-90-154.162. The prolific calligrapher Mir 'Imad al-Hasani (d. 1615) was born in 1552, spent time in Herat and Qazvin, and finally settled in Isfahan (then capital of Safavid Persia [Iran]), where, as a result of his implication in court intrigues, he was murdered in 1615. He was a master of nasta'liq script, whose works were admired and copied by his contemporaries, and later collected by the Mughals (Welch et al 1987: 32-36). This particular fragment may have been executed in Persia ca. 1600 and mounted on to a decorative sheet for inclusion in a Mughal album of calligraphies. This calligraphic fragment includes a number of poetical verses in Persian and Chaghatay Turkish (Turkish spoken in Central Asia). A continuous Persian lyrical poem (ghazal) is written in the top and bottom horizontal rectangular panels, while another ghazal appears written in diagonal in the right and left vertical columns. Both ghazals are by the famous Persian poet Shaykh Sa'di (d. 691/1292) and address moral issues. Script: nasta'liq 1-84-154.3