Manuscript of the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Views 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
View comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Add a comment
Please log in to add comments.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
Current tags
This item has not been tagged yet.
Please log in to add tags.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Manuscript of the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Iran, 10 February 1529/A.H. 1 Jumada al-Ukhra 935
Manuscripts; codices
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
f9 11/16 x 7 x 1 1/4 in. (24.6 x 17.8 x 3.2 cm)
The Edwin Binney, 3rd, Collection of Turkish Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.85.237.16)
Art of the Middle East: Islamic and Contemporary
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

After Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), the most widely illustrated text of the Persian literary canon is the Khamsa (Quintet) of the poet Nizami of Ganja (d. 1209)....
After Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), the most widely illustrated text of the Persian literary canon is the Khamsa (Quintet) of the poet Nizami of Ganja (d. 1209). Its five long poems include some of the best-known tales from Persian literature, such as the tragic romances "Layli and Majnun" and "Khusraw and Shirin." When the calligrapher of this Khamsa manuscript completed the text in 1529, he left more than ninety spaces for illustrations; however, only three paintings were ever completed, all accompanying the first poem of the quintet, titled "The Treasury of Mysteries."
More...

Bibliography

  • Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

  • Denny, Walter B.  Turkish Treasures from the Collection of Edward Binney, 3rd.  Portland, OR:  Portland Art Museum, 1979.