FOLIO FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE SPIRITUAL WORDS FROM GREEK PHILOSOPHY WITH SAYINGS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS ACCOMPANIED WITH THEIR PORTRAITS AL-KALIMAT AL-RUHANIYYA MIN AL-HIKAM AL-YUNANIYYA FI KALIMAT AL-HUKAMA’ WA ASHKALIHIM Creator: Artist (calligrapher attributed): Yaqut Al-Musta'simi, died 1298 Artist (painter attributed): Mahmud b. Abi'l-Mahasin Al-QashiPlace:Iraq, BaghdadDimensions:21.2 cm x 15.7 cm x 1.3 cm Date:late 13th Century/additions made 1899 Materials and Technique: Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper This manuscript of Al-Kalimat al-Ruhaniyya min al-Hikam al-Yunaniyya fi Kalimat al-hukama’ wa Ashkalihim (Spiritual Words from Greek Philosophy with Sayings of the Philosophers Accompanied with their Portraits) presents collected maxims in Arabic attributed to Greek philosophers and notables. The volume with its illuminated heading (fol. 1r) and 13 textual illustrations can be attributed to late 13th-century Baghdad. Its colophon (fol. 46r) is signed with the name of the celebrated Abbasid/Ilkhanid calligrapher Yaqut al-Musta‘simi (d. 1298), as well as an artist named Mahmud b. Abi al-Mahasin al-Qashi, who specifies that he illustrated (ṣawwarahu) the book. It has 46 folios written in naskh script and the manuscript was rebound some time between the 16th and 18th centuries, possibly in the Ottoman world. At least six copies of this same text—two closely related to AKM283—are found in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul. Further Reading Although no other works illustrated by Mahmud b. Abi al-Mahasin al-Qashi are known, a large number are signed by the scribe Yaqut al-Musta‘simi. Yaqut was greatly admired in the Turko-Persian world, and any piece of calligraphy bearing his name was avidly collected. His works were the primary models chosen to be duplicated for centuries, and especially during the Timurid period, when even the Timurid prince Ibrahim Sultan is believed to have replicated his work. Furthermore, his calligraphic pieces had an enormous material value, as is demonstrated by a letter preserved in the munsha’at (a collection of examples of mostly epistolary and some literary texts) of the Ottoman bureaucrat and poet Mesihi (d. after 1512). In the letter Mesihi writes that he is sending a formerly requested calligraphic specimen (mashq) of Yaqut al-Musta‘simi to an unknown recipient. He adds that even if a person just brought the news of the existence of such a piece, he would deserve to be given a gift of more than 10,000 akçes, but the value of the work itself would be more than one thousand gold pieces. Yaqut’s fame, and possibly the high demand for any piece of calligraphy bearing his name, caused his works to be copied and often duplicated together with his signature, as a result of which the penmanship of the works signed with the name Yaqut remains at times questionable. Therefore, when a colophon is signed with this name, both the possibility of its scribe being Yaqut al-Musta‘simi himself, and the possibility of it being a duplication are always considered.
Mughal-Library