Page of Calligraphy from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)
Author Farid al-Din `Attar Iranian
Calligrapher Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi Iranian
This folio belonged to a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tair that was presented to the Ardabil shrine in 1608–09, more than a century after its text and most of its illustrations were completed. Under the Safavid Shah ‘Abbas, its pages were remounted and four illustrations, a frontispiece, and a new binding were added. For a long time, the text and paintings were assumed to be Timurid, from the original manuscript. Scholars have determined, however, that this folio is one of fifteen Safavid additions that were produced to replace damaged or lost folios. The original calligrapher of the manuscript was Sultan ‘Ali Mashhadi, a famed calligrapher and poet of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
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