A LOOSE ILLUSTRATED FOLIO FROM THE MAJMA’ AL-TAWARIKH (ASSEMBLY OF CHRONICLES) BY HAFIZI-I ABRU (D. 1430)
PROPERTY FROM THE LATE ÉMILE TABBAGH'S COLLECTION
The text, Timurid Herat, Afghanistan, ca. 1425; the figural illustrations, possibly Iran, ca. 1900 - 1925

Persian manuscript on cream-coloured wove paper, the recto with 15ll. of black ink naskh script to the page, encased within two rectangular cartouches in-filled with later-added figural illustrations of rulers giving audiences to envoys and officials, the text narrating the history of Ardeshir's conquests and the founding of the Sassanian dynasty, set within red and blue rules, with an inventory sticker on the top left corner reading 'CP 35 250' (partly in Arabic) and a later-added pencil inventory number '1529' at the bottom of the page, the verso with 33ll. of black ink naskh script to the page, no sentence markers, a catchword in the lower left corner, with plain margins.

33cm x 22.3cm the text panel

42.5cm x 33cm the folio

Provenance: ADER Auctions, Paris, 25 November 2021, lot 183 (one of eight loose folios from the same manuscript, part of the Late Émile Tabbagh's collection).

The present folio comes from a now-dispersed historical manuscript produced in the Timurid kitabkhana of Herat for Sultan Shahrukh Mirza (r. 1405 - 47), son and successor of Timur (r. 1370 - 1405). Similarly to the Mongol Ilkhanid Jami' al-Tawarikh, the Majma' al-Tawarikh (Assembly of Chronicles) belongs to the genre of historiographical manuscripts predilected by Mongol and Central Asian rulers. But the Majma' is not only a history book. It emerges as a true dynastic project to confirm and enhance Shahrukh's legitimacy to rule. Written between 1423 and 1427, the text consists of four sections: a history of the world up to the Arab conquest; a history of the Caliphate until 1258; a history of Persia during the Seljuk and Mongol periods; and lastly, the Zubdat al-Tawarikh, which chronicles the lives of Timur and Shah Rukh until 1427.

To this day, only two copies of the Majma' survive: one, signed and illustrated, is preserved in the library of the Topkapi Sarayi Palace in Istanbul (Hazine 1653), and the latter, to which our folio most likely once belonged, presents later illustrations in a different hand. They are believed to have been purposefully added in the years 1925 - 26, just before the manuscript was sent to the States. Here, it was purchased and divided by the art dealer and collector Émile Tabbagh and her partner, Parish Watson, in 1928 - 1933. Since then, several folios have landed in international public institutions and private collections such as the British Museum in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and many more.

Another folio analogous to ours was successfully sold at auction at Bonhams London, 2 April 2009, lot 5. For further reference on the Majma' and its origins, please see S. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, 1998, pp. 28 - 31; and T. Lentz and G. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, 1989, pp. 98 - 102.