circa 1650. These are leaves from a Hafez Dewan fragment of Ottoman origin, circa 1650, on paper, measuring 169 x 78 mm., consisting of nineteen lines of delicate black nasta'liq script within geometric designs in blue ink. The author, Mohammed Shams od-Din Hafez, lived from 1325-1399. Hafez was one of Persia's finest lyric poets and wrote in the sophisticated "Ghazal" manner. The Dewan takes the poetic format of six and fifteen couplets and expresses Sufi ideals in lyrics. Framed. #17709/17710. Very Good. More

circa 1760. This is a set of leaves from an anthology or collection of poems by Sa'di, Amir Khusrao, Jami and others. Circa 1760, it is written on paper, in a fine hand, black nasta'liq script with occasional phrases in blue. Written diagonally within two columns, the text throughout is encased in double gold lines with a few exquisite blue and gold floral headings. The fragment also contains illuminated title in polychrome colors of blue gold and red with a final folio of perching birds amongst flower sprays. Framed. #22611/22702. Very Good. More

India: 1425. Framed rare leaf from the remains of a Koran, on paper, India, Sultanate, originating in the state of Bihar, circa AD 1425 (330 x 250 mm).  Text is from the end of juz 15 and juz 16 – 30. There are eleven lines of large bihari script in black ink; the word Allah picked out in red or gold throughout, first ‘ayah’ of each juz selected in gold, single verse divisions marked with illuminated gold florets, sura headings written in white on illuminated panels with palmetts extending into the margins, inner and outer margins ruled in red and blue, large finely illuminated marginal devices marking sajda instructions, juz, quarter and half and three-quarter juz, text words in black. The condition is in unusually good condition.  Damp staining confined largely to one corner, hardly affecting the text. #17886. Good. More

Persia. Framed handwritten manuscript leaf from a Koran, Persia, middle of the 16th century, on paper (325 x 220 mm). This leaf comes from a large-sized Koran of fourteen lines of black Nasta’liq script. It has elegant marginal devices recto and verso. Verso: fourteen lines of black Nasta’liq script. #18003. Fine. More

1846. A leaf from large Koran, Iran, 1846-47, on fine paper. There are fifteen lines of black naskh script, gold rosettes between verses, sura heading in red on illuminated panels, large polychrome medallions in borders, borders ruled in gold, red Persian interlinear translation, colophon signed by the scribe Muhammad'Ali ibn Muhammad Baqir. Framed, measures 345 x 200 mm. #39684. Very Good. More

This brilliantly rare illuminated manuscript leaf is from a remainder volume of the Al-Kamilat Al-Sajjadiyah, Prayers, composed by Zayn Al-Abidin'Ali ibn al Husayn, only some 70 years after the death of the holy Prophet Mohammed. It was written during the period of Shiite Muslim consolidation in Persia under the reign of Abdalmalik who first enforced the use of Arabic as the official language of Persia. There are eight lines of script in elegant Arabic Naskhi, with Persian interlinear translation. The manuscript was dated "AD Huharran 1101/AD1689" Safavid Persia. Pure gold paint is used in the beautiful, meandering, floral pattern, which frames the words and also the many pious comments in the margins. Framed. #33590. Fine. More

circa 1575. This is a leaf from a Prayer book and Benedictional for the use of Cistercian Nuns, in Latin, France second quarter of the 16th century. There are eighteen lines in black ink of angular Gothic script from the section of Temporal Benedictions. Provenance: Cistercian House presumably a nunnery since the opening, and only illustrated, office for the profession of female novices, who promise to live secundum regulam sancti Benediciti. The Illumination within this Prayer Book shows considerable similarities with those of the Master of Francois de Rohan, active in Paris from c. 1525 - 1546. Beautifully custom framed. #6800. Fine. More

A leaf from a Koran, India, late 15th century, on paper (150 x 115 mm). There are fifteen lines to the page written in elegant bihari script with diacritics in black, the word Allah picked out in gold throughout, illuminated rosettes between verses, margins ruled in blue and red, illuminated devices in margins, sura headings in white on gold panels. Verso: fifteen lines to the page written in elegant bihari script Framed. #32531. Near Fine. More

Spain: 1650. A leaf from a Medieval Antiphonal or Choir Missal, Spain, circa 1650, in Latin on extremely heavy vellum. Text is in a Spanish rounded gothic hand (Rotunda). Music is on a stave formed of five lines. There are six lines of music and verse. Verso: six lines of music and verse. Framed. #2525. Near Fine. More

A leaf from a medieval manuscript Bible: Paris, France, mid 13th century, in Latin, on vellum. There are fifty-five lines of double column text in microscopic-miniscule Gothic script. There are book headings, chapter numbers, Book of Tobias [Doway-Rheims] non existent in the King James, Chapters 1-2, Miniature of Tobit lying in bed with a swallow above. Verso: there are fifty-five lines of double column text in microscopic-miniscule Gothic script. Bible leaves from the 13th century are becoming rare. Framed. #2874. Fine. More

1770. This beautiful illuminated leaf is from an anthology of Persian Sufi poetry, including works by Sa'di and Hafiz and is scribed in safina format, produced in Persia, on paper, 1770 AD. The scripts employed are the scarce shikasteh and the more common nasta'liq written diagonally on white within gold-bordered cloud bands. Verso: almost a mirror image in design. Beautifully custom framed. #15929. Fine. More

A framed Leaf Qur’an, Kashmir, 19th Century, Manuscripts on gold sprinkled paper, with fourteen lines of black Naskh script within gold rules, illuminated marginal medallions. Sura headings in white within gold panels, illuminated opening, middle and final bifolios (240 x 145 mm.). #31393. Fine. More

Framed rare Persian miniature created in the early 19th or late 18th century on paper (290 x 180 mm). It illustrates a scene from the Persian national epic, the Shahnama or Book of Kings. The Shahnama is a poem of some 50,000 couplets that was composed by Abu’l Qasim Firdausi over a period of several decades in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Verso: twenty-one lines of four columns in nasta’liq script. #15908. Fine. More