Islam

Oil on board, c. 460 by 590 mm, depicting pilgrims in Mecca gathering for pilgrimage around the Holy Ka'aba; some pigments crackled, the sky and tops of the buildings in the background repainted with some additional retouching to foreground and central buildings, overall bright and attractive example; housed in a modern wooden frame, early 20th-century label to the back with manuscript description of the illustration in English.

Five volumes, each containing one Juz' of the Qur'an, illuminated manuscripts on thick polished buff paper, in Arabic, containing Juz' VI (An-Nisa 4:148 to Al-Maidah 5:82), Juz' VIII (Al-An'am 6:111 to Al-Araf 7:170), Juz' XI (At-Towbah 9:94 to Hud 11:5), Juz' XVII (Al-Anbiya 21:1 to Al-Hajj 22:78) and Juz' XXX (An-Naba 78:1 to An-Nas 114:6), each Juz' 16-19 leaves (together 84 leaves, plus some contemporary free endleaves to a couple volumes) and all textually complete in themselves, 265 by 170 mm; single column, 11 lines bold black naskh script with diacritics, some vocalisation in red, surah headings throughout in red thuluth script, large polychrome head-pieces (unwan) opening each of the Juz', these executed to a very high standard by a fine hand and illuminated in gold, leaves ruled in blue and gold throughout, contemporary catch-words, some smudges and light staining, a few sections cockled from damp; housed in uniform contemporary Qajar lacquered boards, inside covers painted and ruled in red, outer covers a dark tan with gilt floral pattern to frame outer edges, all rebacked, a little worn in places.

Concertina-style miniature prayerbook, illuminated manuscript in Arabic, complete, 16 conjoined leaves, 48 by 48 mm; numerous illustrations including images of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, attributions to Prophet Muhammad through depictions of his hand prints, foot prints, and his Seal of Prophecy, with further illustrations pertaining to the other prophets such as the sword of 'Ali, all heightened in gilt, versos and outer boards backed in contemporary marbled paper.

Illuminated manuscript, in Arabic, on paper, 142 leaves (plus 5 contemporary leaves at the front and an additional 3 at the end of the volume) containing the forty poems preceded by two additional du'a and also including a contemporary fihrist at the end of the volume, 260 by 165 mm.; in two or four columns, 12 lines confident scribal and angular black naskh, most leaves with contemporary catch-words, contemporary foliation (corresponding to the fihrist) in red, 48 illuminated polychrome headings and decorated banners to open each of the sections, most of these heightened in gilt or silver, ruling throughout in gilt, some contemporary marginalia and corrections, preliminary and penultimate leaves with contemporary annotations and export stamps from Iran dated 1311 AS; some faint scattered stains, occasional chips or creases to outer edges of leaves, a few early paper repairs to outer edges (not affecting main body of text), overall very bright and attractive condition; housed in fine leather-backed lacquered boards, cut-out medallions with filigree details to covers deep-set with red and gold floral devices set against a striking black background accented by gilt corner pieces and a double-ruled border, outer corners and extremities slightly chipped with fractional loss to pigment, small tear to leather along spine.

Illuminated manuscript formed of multiple calligraphic panels pasted to thick card, in Arabic and Farsi, total leaf 370 by 245 mm. (recto panel 285 by 195 mm. and verso 250 by 175 mm.); recto formed of a large central panel of fine nasta'liq formed of three couplets, this framed by two panels of large thuluth on either side and a further two panels above and below in an elegant reyhani script (verging on muhaqqaq), the outer corners are further decorated by four diagonally placed cartouches of nasta'liq (in two different hands), the verso is formed of a large central panel of fine nasta'liq formed of two rhyming couplets framed within two corner-pieces illustrated in fine Safavid-style gilt polychrome devices and copied on paper adorned in sections of gold leaf, framed within a multiple ruled border formed of 12 cartouches of nasta'liq (6 of these single lines on cream paper and the other 6 formed of 2 lines on white paper), both sides of album leaf elegantly arranged with gilt borders separating different panels and wider ruled borders of green and aubergine coloured paper, some light surface soiling and small chips to wider margins, overall very attractive condition.