Voltaire: Tarikh-i Pitr-i Kabir and Tarikh-i Sharl-i Davazdahhum, copy attributed to Ibn...

Voltaire: Tarikh-i Pitr-i Kabir and Tarikh-i Sharl-i Davazdahhum, copy attributed to Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar 'Ali,
Qajar Iran, 10 Dhu'l Qa'da 1290AH/30 December 1873AD, 

A History of Peter the Great, translated from Voltaire's Histoire de l'empire de Russie sous Pierre-le-Grand and Histoire de Charles XII, roi du Suede, on ivory paper, 141ff. with 11ll. of black nasta'liq to the page, the opening folio of each work with blue and gold illuminated heading, f. 153 with colophon, final folio also dated, margined with fine coloured watered paper, under the date in the colophon appear two seal impressions belonging to a Nusrat'ullah Khan, excellent condition, in plain black morocco binding

folio 32.3 x 21.5cm.; text panel 17.7 x 10.2cm.

Provenance: Private London Collection formed 1960s-70s and thence by descent; Christies October 26, 2017, Lot 123

The marbled paper borders of this manuscript are distinctive and unusual. The only other known textual manuscript to include marbled borders to this degree was copied by the same scribe as the present manuscript and is a translation of Tarikh'i Iskandar (The History of Alexander the Great) starting with his origins in Macedonia, his conquests, from Egypt to parts of India and Turkestan along with his burial in Alexandria and was copied by Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar 'Ali in Kabul on Monday 8th Rabi' II 1291 AH (25th May 1874 AD). A reference to our text is given in the preface: 'Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar 'Ali is to produce this text as well as the History of Peter the Great' thus confirming that the two volumes were undeniably associated at the time of production and assembled in this style at the bequest for the same patron. The History of Alexander was produced in Kabul, Afghanistan while our manuscript was produced in Iran, suggesting its patron was a Qajar figure significant enough to travel with retinue including a calligrapher engaged in copying works to his specifications.

A Qur’an of Shah Isma’il held at the Astan Quds Razavi in Mashhad with refurbished marbled borders in the same style. 

This extraordinary manuscript is most probably the first translation of Voltaire from French into Persian, carried out by Mirza Riza Tabrizi, one of five students sent by ‘Abbas Mirza to England in 1815, returning to Iran in 1819.