DIWAN BY HAFEZ, OTTOMAN TURKEY, AD 1474 Two folios, from an...

Hammer

£35

DIWAN BY HAFEZ, OTTOMAN TURKEY, AD 1474

Two folios, from an early copy of Diwan, 12ll. of black nastaliq script, arranged in two columns separated by double intercolumnar rules in gold and green, heading in cartouches in gold and blue ink, text set within polychrome and gold, mounted, text 14.5x7cm / frame 25.5x20cm


The author, Mohammad Shams od-Din Hafez, lived from Muslims who could recite the Koran by heart. He was a Sufi Muslim, who practised a mystical form of Islam. He was one of the Persian finest lyric poets and wrote in the sophisticated “Ghazal” manner. In the Diwan he takes the poetic form of 6 to 15 couplets, and expresses Sufi ideals in lyrics.
It is unusual to find Dewan’s of so early a date, scribed only 21 years after the fall of Constantinople to Islam in 1453, and less than 100 years after the poet’s death. A worthy addition to a Middle Eastern manuscript collection of an Islamic flavour.