TIMURID HERAT, SECOND QUARTER 15TH CENTURY

The style of the flowing naskh with its extended curved terminals is similar to the style of calligraphy found in the Majma' al-tawarikh of Hafiz Abru produced at the Timurid court in Herat in circa 1426 (Abolala Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts, New York, 1992, pp.64-66). The sculpted brightly coloured rocks and the curved flowering tree show more affinity with illustrated manuscripts of a slightly later period such as a Timurid Shahnama manuscript dated AH 845/1441-42 AD in the Art and History Trust Collection (Soudavar, op.cit., no.27, pp.71-77).