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An Iskandarnāma of Nizami Produced for Ibrahim Sultan 235 AN ISKANDARNĀMA OF NIZAMI PRODUCED FOR IBRAHIM SULTAN 235 LÂLE ULUÇ AN ISKANDARNāMA OF NIZAMI PRODUCED FOR IBRAHIM SULTAN This paper describes a copy of the Iskandarnāma of the grandfather of the child governor, the Timurid ruler Nizami from the Majlis Library1 in Tehran for the first Shah Rukh (r. 1409–47), had sent an amir from Herat, time and discusses its various features, together with Shaykh Muhibb al-Din Abu’l-Khayr b. Shaykh al-qarraʾi,⁠ comparable examples from the same period. It then to assume control of the real gubernatorial power.7 Ibra- attempts to interpret one of its illustrations, hoping to him Sultan’s death and the accession of ʿAbd Allah did fulfill what David Summers called “the most basic task not create a break in Shiraz manuscript production,8 of art history,” namely, “to explain why works of art look which continued without interruption even after the the way they look.”2 latter lost the governorship of the area in the interne- The Tehran Iskandarnāma is a significant document cine fighting among the Timurid princes that followed since the medallion on its opening folio (fol. 2r) bears a the death of Shah Rukh in 1447. legend specifying that it was prepared for the treasury For the Timurids, like other Turkic and Turko-Mon- of Ibrahim Mirza: Bi rasmi khizāna al­kutub Ḥaḍrat golian dynasties stemming from Central Asia, ostenta- al­Mawlā al­Ṣulṭān al­a‘ẓam Ibrāhīm Mīrzā khallada tious expenditure on and conspicuous consumption of Allāh mulkahu (by the order of the library of His Maj- the arts were significant symbols of power. The accu- esty the Great Sultan Ibrahim Mirza, may God make his mulation of cultural prestige, as manifested through kingship eternal) (fig. 3 [figs. 1–8 are placed together at patronage of the arts, implied control over immeasur- the end of the article]). It also ends with a colophon that able sums of money as well as dynastic authority and, provides the date 839 (July 27, 1435–July 15, 1436) and by extension, suggested the legitimacy of rule.9 the name of the scribe, ʿAli Katib (fol. 101r [fig. 8]).3 It is The Timurid princes were refined individuals and not an unknown manuscript; Francis Richard lists it their courts, including that of Ibrahim Sultan at Shiraz, among the manuscripts prepared for Ibrahim Mirza.4 It appear to have been cultural showplaces for their occu- has not, however, been the subject of closer examina- pants. Ibrahim Sultan was a man of letters whose “activ- tion, and the three illustrations in it have remained ities as calligrapher and historian” are considered to unpublished. have been “his most enduring legacy.”10 The date 839 helps us to identify the dedicatee of the The Timurid historian Dawlatshah (d. 1488) noted manuscript as Abu’l-Fath Ibrahim Sultan b. Shah Rukh that he was an accomplished calligrapher,11 while the b. Timur, who was the Timurid governor of the prov- sixteenth-century Safavid author qadi Ahmad remarked inces of Fars, Kirman, and Luristan during the period that he was “a recognized master of the thuluth style.”12 between 817 (1414–15) and his death on 4 Shawwal 838 And according to qadi Ahmad’s Ottoman counterpart, (May 3, 1435),5 just over two months before the begin- Mustafa ʿÂli (d. 1600), when Ibrahim Sultan copied the ning of the year cited on the colophon of our manu- work of the renowned calligrapher Yaqut al-Mustaʿsimi script. By then he had been succeeded by his son, ʿAbd (d. 1298) and sent it to the bazaar to be sold, no one Allah, who was three or four years of age at the time,6 could tell the difference.13 Five extant copies of the as the nominal governor of the area. At the same time, Koran transcribed by the prince bear evidence of his cal- 236 LÂLE ULUÇ ligraphic skills,14 while he is reported to have person- which are unfortunately not known, though it is ally designed the inscriptions of the two madrasas he reported to be almost the same size as the Khamsa of founded in Shiraz, as well as others.15 Nizami copied by the same scribe.27 Ibrahim’s name is Ibrahim Sultan was also a notable patron of the arts associated with two more manuscripts that bear their of the book, with a surviving corpus that testifies to his scribes’ names. The first is an unillustrated copy of the ample patronage.16 Besides the Tehran Iskandarnāma, Kulliyyāt of Saʿdi dated 829 (1425–26), with an illumi- four illustrated manuscripts are associated with his nated dedication specifying that it was copied for the patronage. The earliest is the so-called Anthology of treasury (khizāna) of Sultan Mughith al-Din Abu’l-Fath Baysunghur, since it bears an illuminated medallion Ibrahim (fols. 1v–2r).28 Its colophon specifies that it was (shamsa) in the name of “Abu’l­Ghāzī Bāysunghur copied by the scribe Muzaffar b. Abdallah, at the order Bahādur Khān.”17 It was copied in Shiraz, however, of his master, Khwaju Giyath al-Din Muhammad Fara- in 823 (1420), by a scribe named Mahmud al-Katib jallah, but was intended for the sultan.29 The second is al-Husayni, and its illustrations are stylistically similar a copy of the Koran dated 823 (1420) and copied by to those of manuscripts made for Ibrahim Sultan. Con- Maḥmūd al­mulaqqab bi­Quṭb al­Mughīthī al­ Ṣulṭānī.30 sequently, it is generally agreed that Ibrahim Sultan had The scribe’s use of the words “al­Sulṭānī” as well as his commissioned it as a gift for his brother Baysunghur (d. nisba (element of a name indicating relation or origin), 1434).18 The second, an undated copy of the Shāhnāma “Mughīthī,” indicates that he was in the service of Mugh- of Firdawsi, is unquestionably connected with the ith al-Saltana va al-Din Ibrahim Mirza.31 prince, since it bears a dedication in his name.19 The A treatise called the ʿAnīs al­nās (The Good Compan- third is a dispersed copy of the Ẓafarnāma of Sharaf ion) dedicated to Ibrahim Sultan contains some addi- al-Din ʿAli Yazdi (d. 1454) dated Dhu ’l-Hijja 839 (June tional circumstantial evidence that he accorded unusual 16–July 15, 1436). This is the illustrated history of the life privileges to authors. It was written around 830 (1426– and conquests of Timur (r. 1370–1405), commissioned 27) by an otherwise unknown author named Shujaʿ,32 by his grandson, Ibrahim Sultan, who requested that the who declared in this work that when he was imprisoned author himself come to his court to supervise the com- he was told that writing a book for the prince of Shiraz pilation and writing of the work. The text appears to would save him—this was why he wrote the treatise have been completed by 821 (1418–19), but the dispersed and was consequently released from prison.33 copy dated 839 is the earliest example known to be The Tehran Iskandarnāma dedicated to this biblio- extant.20 The fourth is the Anthology of Prose Texts, phile prince that is the subject of the present paper is now in Istanbul,21 which contains an abbreviated ver- the fifth illustrated manuscript associated with Ibrahim sion of the Kalīla va Dimna, as well as selections from Sultan’s patronage. At 18 cm × 11 cm (fig. 2), it is small the Marzubānnāma and Sindbādnāma. Although the and, unfortunately, not in good condition, showing evi- colophon of the manuscript is lost, a shamsa, which dence of having had some water damage. The text, writ- includes the legend “Abu’l­Fatḥ,” has been partially pre- ten on a rectangular surface 12 cm × 9.3 cm, is in an early served on folio 1r, and folio 205v has a prayer or a eulogy nastaʿlīq, in four columns of nineteen lines. The rubrics for “Abu’l­Fatḥ Ibrāhīm Ṣulṭān.”22 are in gold thuluth script delicately edged in black over Ibrahim Sultan commissioned unillustrated volumes a background of floriated islīmī (foliate arabesques) as well. Among these are a Masnavī­i maʿnavī of Jalal scrolls (fig. 5). The text block and the columns are ruled al-Din Rumi dated 822 (1419–20),23 a Jāmiʿ al­ṣaḥīḥ dated in gold and edged in black. At the end of the manuscript, 832 (1428–29),24 and a Dīvān of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi the text is written in diagonal sections so that the col- dated 834 (1430–31).25 Two further manuscripts were ophon could be placed at the bottom of the last page. copied for him by a scribe named Bayazid al-Tabrizi The colophon, on folio 101r, is in tawqīʿ script (fig. 8). al-Sultani: the first is a copy of the Khamsa of Nizami, This is not unusual, however, since writing the colophon dated 831 (1427–28)26 and the second a copy of the in another script was a common enough practice. Two Khamsa of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi, the whereabouts of other extant manuscripts completed between 1435 and AN ISKANDARNĀMA OF NIZAMI PRODUCED FOR IBRAHIM SULTAN 237 1437 in the Shiraz style of the period have colophons 1608 donation (waqf) he made to the Safavid shrine of written in a script that is different from the one used for Shaykh Safi al-Din in Ardabil. This manuscript’s three their texts. Both of these colophons have floral golden illustrations, signed by Nur al-Din Muhammad Musav- decorations on either side, similar to those flanking the vir, are in a style that developed during the reign of Shah colophon of the Tehran Iskandarnāma.
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