A Persian quatrain, signed by Mir 'Ali al-Harawi, with Royal Mughal Illumination, India, Mughal, 16th century

Persian manuscript on paper, 7 lines to the page, written in elegant nasta'liq script in black ink within cloud bands, set against a gold ground filled with finely executed scrolling polychrome flowers, laid down on stout paper with borders of feathery gold vines, framed

In good overall condition, ink bold and calligraphy bright, slightly rubbed at top right hand corner, light horizontal crease to upper section, as viewed.
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The present quatrain, with its fine and elegant nasta'liq script, is signed as 'Mir 'Ali al-Katib' ('the scribe'), likely to be Mir 'Ali al-Harawi, the well-known and celebrated nasta'liq calligrapher of Herat under the Timurids and then the Safavids, who was taken to Bukhara together with other artists after the capture of the city by the Uzbek ruler 'Ubayd Khan in 935 AH/1529 AD.

Mir 'Ali al-Harawi studied in Herat and spent most of his life working as a scribe of firmans and then at the Royal Library of the Timurid Sultan Husayn Bayqara, from whom he received the title 'sultani'.  After the death of the Sultan in 911 AH/1505 AD, he moved from Herat to Mashhad but later returned to Herat. After the capture of Herat by the Safavid ruler Shah Isma'il, Mir 'Ali worked under the patronage of Khwaja Karim al-Din Habibullah Savaji, the Minister to the Governor of Khurasan, Sam Mirza, a brother of Shah Tahmasp.

Mir 'Ali's calligraphies were not only treasured at the Persian court, but also at the Ottoman and Mughal courts, with Mughal princes eager to collect examples of his work. Indeed, the present quatrain can be compared to a number of further examples of Mir 'Ali's work in the Kevorkian Album in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (sold in these rooms 12 December 1929). The quality and similarity of the illumination on the reverse of several album pages, including FGA 39.50b, MMA 55.121.10.33r and 5r suggest that the present calligraphy was once part of an Imperial Mughal album (see Welch et al 1987, pp.116, 157 and 214, nos.19, 36 and 65 respectively).