Script: nasta'liq

These calligraphic fragments are the first seven pages of Sa'di's Bustan (The Fruit Garden or The Orchard). The order of the first seven pages of this work all belonging to the same manuscript goes as follows:

Page 1: 1-04-713.19.26, Page 2: 1-04-713.19.15, Page 3: 1-04-713.19.14, Page 4: 1-04-713.19.12, Page 5: 1-04-713.19.13, Page 6: 1-04-713.19.11, Page 7: 1-04-713.19.25

Page 1: Shaykh Sa'di (d. 691/1292) composed his famous and beloved Bustan in 1256-7. It contains histories, personal anecdotes, fables and moral instructions. The first page provides a praise of God as an appropriate incipit to the text. The first two lines read:

In the name of the Lord, Life-Creating, / The Wise One, Speech-Creating with the Tongue, / The Lord, the Giver, the Hand-Seizing, / Merciful, Sin-Forgiving, Excuse-Accepting.

As in this case, the first page of a Persian poetical text is easily recognizable, as it is provided with an ornamental panel at the top (sarloh) and the main text usually is decorated by cloud band motifs and decorative illumination between the text and in the gutter separating each verse of poetry. The top frieze contains three yellow flowers -- perhaps intended to represent blooming saffron flowers (although the petals of saffron flowers tend to be of a light purple color) -- as well as a blue horizontal band decorated with a gold leaf and flower motifs. The yellow-orange flower reappears on an otherwise unrelated calligraphic fragment in the Library of Congress (see 1-88-154.41 V).