Arts of the Islamic World
Arts of the Islamic World
ABU MUHAMMAD AL-QASIM B. ALI MUHAMMAD B. UTHMAN AL-HARIRI (D.1122 AD), ALSO KNOWN AS AL-HARIRI AL-BASRAHM, AL-MAQAMAT, COPIED BY MUHAMMAD B. AL-HAJ AL-TAHIR AL-HAJ BATWA, NORTH AFRICA OR SPAIN, DATED 1114 AH/1702 AD
Auction Closed
October 23, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
ABU MUHAMMAD AL-QASIM B. ALI MUHAMMAD B. UTHMAN AL-HARIRI (D.1122 AD), ALSO KNOWN AS AL-HARIRI AL-BASRAHM, AL-MAQAMAT, COPIED BY MUHAMMAD B. AL-HAJ AL-TAHIR AL-HAJ BATWA, NORTH AFRICA OR SPAIN, DATED 1114 AH/1702 AD
Arabic manuscript on European watermarked paper, 180 leaves, plus 2 fly-leaves, 16 lines to the page, written in Maghribi script in black ink, titles in bolder red or black, in a brown leather binding with central stamped and gilt almond-shaped medallion, with flap
27.6 by 17.2cm.
The Maqamat is composed of fifty short stories, each identified by a name of a city of the Muslim world in which the main characters, al-Harith and Abu Zayd, meet. The narrator is al-Harith, who tells the adventures of the peripatetic Abu Zayd. Abu Zayd is an incredible orator and survives thanks to his rhetoric, a quality which enables him to persuade and evade punishment when in need. Only in the last maqama does Abu Zayd repent and admit his sins.
Written in the twelfth century, this collection of tales was very popular from the moment of its composition, and was copied widely across Islamic lands. Several copies of this manuscript dated to the beginning of eighteenth century and written in Maghribi script have survived, testament to the work's popularity in North Africa (see Christie’s London, 27 April 2017, lot 49A; Christie’s London, 8 April 2011, lot 39).