Giuseppe Solmi
ITAENG

A201)Riyazi Samarqandi: Diwan



The Diwan of Riyazi Samarqandi.
Illuminated manuscript on paper in Persian language from what is now Uzbekistan, to be referred to the late 15th century, albeit undated. Timurid Persia or Central Asia, late 15th Century
Leaf average dimensions: mm. 157 x 103 ca.; text panel measurements mm. 100 x 55 approx., with 11 lines per page horizontally and vertically drawn in elegant nasta?liq script in black ink. 31 leaves overall.
The decorative apparatus is comprised of an illuminated headpiece (sarlaw?) in gold and colours, taken probably from another contemporaneous manuscript), intercolumnar and interlinear gilt rules, inner margins ruled in gold. Catchwords in wide outer margins, some trimmed.
Blind-stamped leather binding.
Some waterstains and abrasions and a page with ink blots otherwise in good conditions.
The text consists of ghazals alphabetically arranged with a few roba?iyyat (quatrains).
Riyazi of Samarkand (d. AD 1479), was one of the Persian courtly poets of the 15th century Safavid Persia.
The celebrated poet Mir 'Ali Shir describes Riyazi as proud, conceited, and ill-tempered, but felicitous in some of his ghazals.