A Group of Four album pages of calligraphy, Persia, Safavid, 16th century

Persian manuscript on paper, various lines to the page, written in Nasta'liq script in black ink on plain, coloured or ebru grounds, 2 sprinkled with gold, 2 album pages comprising various panels of calligraphy with blue floral corner pieces, including the signatures of Mir 'Ali and Muhammad Ashraf, ruled in colours and gold, 2 other pages with quatrains, one signed by Muhammad Husayn and the other by Muhammad Ashraf, the former with 3 triangular panels filled with interlacing polychrome flowers

In generally good overall condition, some minor areas of smudging and worm holes with associated repair, otherwise good, as viewed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

inscriptions

The composite page consisting of four different pieces, all in nasta'liq and one quatrain signed as 'Mir 'Ali al-Katib' (the scribe) is likely to be by 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 Uzbak ruler 'Ubayd Khan in 935 AH/1529 AD.

The Mir 'Ali who signed the other composite page consisting of four different pieces, all in nasta'liq, could also be by the well-known Mir 'Ali. Muhammad Ashraf, who signed and dated 1072 AH/1661-2 AD, is not recorded. However, there is a Muhammad Sa'id Ashraf who is recorded as a poet with the pen-name 'Khafi', calligrapher and painter who left Isfahan for India in 1070 AH/1659-60 AD. He joined 'Alamgir's court and was put in charge of teaching his eldest daughter Zib al-Nisa'.  He returned to Isfahan in 1081 AH/1673-4 AD and later returned to India and died there while his way to Mecca in 1116 AH/1704-5 AD (Mehdi Bayani, ahval va asar-e khosh-nevisan, vol. IV, Tehran, 1358 sh., pp. 745-7).