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Mathnawi-i Ma‘nawi
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Description
This fine small manuscript contains the Mathnawi-i Ma‘nawi (Spiritual Couplets), a lengthy compendium of anecdotes, stories, and ethical teachings infused with mystical inspiration that was composed in the 13th century by world-renowned poet and Sufi master Jalal al-Din Rumi.
In addition to its fine illumination and calligraphy, the codex is especially notable for its binding, contemporaneous with the manuscript and retaining the typical flap ending employed in Islamic manuscripts to protect the text-block. Made of leather covering cardboard, its surface is decorated with stamped motifs and a splendid gilt and lacquered composition featuring a dragon chasing a phoenix in a verdant forest.
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1582 (AH 990)
- Artist/maker
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Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207 - 1273) (author)
- Material and technique
- ink, colour, and gold on paper; bound in leather, stamped, and paper board, painted with gold, and coated with lacquer
- Dimensions
- closed 23.5 x 14.6 x 2.1 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › gold,
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Christopher T. Gandy, 2012.
- Accession no.
- EA2012.83
Glossary (2)
lacquer, phoenix
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lacquer
Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.
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phoenix
Mythical bird known as hōō in Japan. The Islamic tradition appropriated the far-eastern iconography of the phoenix and used it to represent another mythical bird, the simurgh.
Past Exhibition
see (1)-
Lure of the East: Selections from the Christopher Gandy Collection
(from 15th Apr until 27th Jul 2014)
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
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