Thank you so much to the organisers of the conference for inviting me and to speak and also to help with the with the planning.
It's been really wonderful to see everyone come together online and listen to all of the fascinating papers.
So I will get stuck in my Beharry project concerned illuminated manuscripts produced in late 14th century Shiraz,
mainly under the Muzaffer dynasty, who ruled for us in this period.
They started out as regional governors under the planets before acquiring several cities in Persia in the mid 14th century, in the 13th, 16th to 80s.
Their reign was characterised by constant infighting before Tymber finally put an end to this by executing the entire family in thirteen ninety three.
The Bodleian holds several important illuminated UNOPS Illustrated Muzaffer manuscripts,
all of these manuscripts that you can see here have been discussed by Elaine Wright in her important work,
the look of the book manuscript production in Shiraz 13, 03 to 14 52.
So I'm very much standing on her shoulders when I discuss this material.
And as a write correctly points out, illumination under the muzaffer,
it's marked an aesthetic sea change from the Mongol forebears, the planets and the intuits.
So just to give you a very, very brief overview, enjoyed styles of illumination,
an example of which you can see on the left, by and large, built upon the forms of the planets.
So we see a rather varied colour palette and the use of thick gold strupp work, which you can see on the outer border of the left picture.
So, in contrast, Muzaffer, illumination is characterised by a much more conservative colour palette that mostly employed gold,
deep blue and black, as well as the use of these tiny gold floral sprays.
So this shift in style was particularly important as it eventually developed into the dense,
blue dominated style of decoration popularised by the Timmers.
So just going back to the fellowship specifically, I looked at a particular manuscript that hadn't been discussed in scholarship in detail before,
so this manuscript is on illuminating undated copy of the class of Sardi's with the shelf mark.
As you can see, Eliot, 220. And I felt that it was worth looking into this manuscript in a bit more detail,
not just because it hadn't been examined before, but also because it contains quite a bit of illumination.
And I thought it was an interesting addition to the body of a modified manuscript that we already know about.
So this client contains all of these works, and it's a relatively early copy of the of the collected works of this author,
although there are several 14th century copies that are earlier than this one.
Dominico in Gemito, who was recently published a very comprehensive book on Saudi,
mentions several 14th century copies of the text, some of which I was not aware of when I actually published this research.
So if you are particularly interested in Saudi, do take a look at his work.
So in any case, the manuscript consists of four hundred and forty four folios, medium sized,
measuring roughly 21 by 13 centimetres that was cropped during the rebounding process.
Its size is similar to other GMs offered manuscripts, which, unlike the enormous volumes of the Allconnex, was offered.
Manuscripts usually only measure sort of 20 to 30 centimetres England and 15 to 20 in which.
So the manuscript contains a double illuminated frontispiece,
which you can see on the right and double illuminated text pages, which you can see on the left.
Unfortunately, all of these have lost their original margins. Each work in the manuscript is also marked by an illuminated headpiece.
But I think that all of these, apart from the one which are shown on the slide here, will probably be completed later.
I think this the one I've shown here is the only one that's contemporary to the manuscripts initial production.
And there's also a couple of inscriptions which are flanked by these trapezoidal shapes that you see on the bottom.
The manuscript is copied in a black nurse, the script itself is very neat, it's evenly spaced.
The letter forms a reasonably consistent and although the main colour is black, as you can see,
certain phrases are headings in the text are copied with relative frequency in gold, blue, bright red and dark red.
So the the fellowship enabled me to conduct an in-depth examination of the manuscript's material qualities and to
contextualise it within the visual vocabulary of other Muzaffer manuscripts in order to offer possible dating.
So I won't I don't really have time to explain the slide in much detail.
But essentially, having looked at other Zaphod manuscripts, I suggest that Elliott, 220,
probably dates to somewhere between 30 and 70 to 30 90s based on an analysis of the various elements of illumination and calligraphy.
I should know that I didn't examine the text in detail.
So it might be that if you look at the text and compare it to other 14th century versions of the climate,
that might enable an even more accurate dating. So as I mentioned, I published my conclusions in an article in the journal Manuscripts Studies.
So if you'd like to know more about the nitty gritty, you can look at my I'm happy to email the copy of the article to anyone who wants it.
So one of the main benefits of the fellowship for me has been a better understanding of late 14th century Shiraz illumination,
as Zainab said, I, I come from looking at Anatolia as this is all quite needs to me.
And for the past couple of years, I've been looking at illumination in from Baghdad and trees.
But like many people, I probably haven't made a huge amount of progress over the last year and a half.
But nevertheless, amongst the manuscripts I've been looking at, a small, albeit interesting group stood out to me.
And these are manuscripts that were presumably produced in Shiraz due to their distinctive style of illumination,
but that appear to have some sort of link to various Jilli Ruelas.
Like the Berlin collapse of society, all of these texts are poetic in nature,
which is in fact also the case for most illuminated Mazarin manuscripts that survive.
And I want to stress that I am a very, very, very early stage of this research.
So there is a lot more work to be done and a lot that I don't know.
So, yes, please don't ask me too many difficult questions. OK, so the first manuscript is an undated collection of two works by the poet,
some Mansoor who served the cello reds and was in fact the teacher of Sheik Aweys, who ruled from thirteen fifty six to thirteen seventy four.
The two works, The Divine and Jamsheed Hoshide are each marked by illuminated headpieces,
as you can see on this slide, and these are the actually only illuminated pages in the manuscript.
It's written in a relatively decent version of nostalgic, although I haven't looked at it in detail and according to Elaine.
Right. And easily emerged in Shiraz in its fully developed form in around 13 17.
There are several blank spaces throughout the copy of Jamsheed or Sheet suggesting that it was supposed to be illustrated.
So the possible Jelavic connexion in this manuscript is provided through a short inscription on the First Folio,
which appears to state that the owner of the possessor of the manuscript is Shapeways.
I've only looked at this manuscript briefly, so please forgive me if you do spot any mistakes.
The fact that the inscription is written in a simple red ink in a very modest round,
or could suggest that it was purchased by or gifted to the ruler with his ownership statement added later.
If it was a direct commission, we might expect more elaborate dedication.
But this, of course, cannot be taken for granted.
We also can't rule out the possibility that the inscription is a later fake, but nothing immediately suggests this to me.
The second manuscript in this small group is an undated, illuminated copy of The Divan of Gihan Malik Harten,
who was a female poet and daughter of the injured ruler, Masood Shah.
So she appears to have stayed in Shiraz even after the fall of the injuries and probably lived into the early 13 nineties,
given that she praises certain political figures who were active around that time.
Like other material from this context, the manuscript is medium sized, measuring around 19 by twenty five centimetres.
It's written in good, nostalgic and contains one small headpiece that you can see on the left through the page, we can see this sort of.
Oji type pointed oval, and I've given you an example on the right, which is from a different manuscript,
that you actually can't see this oval anymore and usually it's a repair.
John Malik praises many figures in her writings, such as Shah Qajar.
Of them was Foreheads and Miramshah son of Tymber.
However, this manuscript has a specific dedication to Ahmedzai er written in black ink on a gold panel.
And that's what's pictured in the sense, although I do appreciate that it's quite difficult to see that that is gold.
A cursory look appears to show that it's written over another text,
but on this point I really don't know very much and I hope to be able to see this manuscript in person soon.
The divine has been catalogued by Francis Rishard and discussed by several scholars such as honorary Marseilles Neurone Benison and Dominic Brookshaw,
the latter of whom has studied the Pope in the most detail. I think Marcey suggests an Brookshaw agrees that the manuscript was probably produced in
the lifetime of the poet with the intention of gifting it to Ahmed Chalabi or himself.
The third and final manuscript in this little group is an undated,
illuminated and illustrated anthology of poetry copied by the calligrapher Maroof al Cotard al-Baghdadi,
who was eulogised by the Safavid calligrapher and historian Codi Ahmad in his well-known treatise, Gulistan Eleanora.
Maroof al Baghdadi is known to have served full ruling patrons of the day, Ahmed Julyan, Iskhandar, Sultan Sharu and Bisimwa.
As you can see, the manuscript is rather long and thin, measuring 12 by twenty five centimetres and it's found along the top edge.
This type of codex is known by several names such as BI of Joung and Sophina.
It contains a double frontispiece of which you can see one page on the left as well as 10 headpieces.
There are also five paintings, but it's not clear to me yet whether these are actually contemporary to them on this group's production.
And as one might expect from a master described, the calligraphy is executed to quite high standard.
Naran Benison has also discussed this manuscript in her recent book on the origins of classicism,
noting the inclusion of verse is authored by Ahmed Lyor,
along with the phrase May God internalise his reign, written in the same hand as the main text, but in a slightly different ink.
This suggests that the manuscript was probably produced before Ahmed's death in 14 10.
The question over the undoubtedly Sherazi style of illumination and the circumstances in which it was produced, however,
remains the historian Juanda Mia writes that apparently at some point,
Maruf grew to hate Ahmed Golia and moved to Shiraz to work for iScan the Sultan.
I think given its appearance, it's difficult to believe that the manuscript was produced in Baghdad July illumination produced in Baghdad,
Baghdad in this period, by contrast,
is much more in the L.A. endured tradition featuring lots of different colours and thick gold or floral strap work.
So I've given you a couple of examples there on the right, both of which are dated and were produced in Baghdad.
So, you know, I've been asking myself lots of questions about this, maybe it was decorated by a recently arrived artist,
perhaps having left Shiraz when Timmo occupied it in thirteen ninety three.
But if it was produced in Shiraz, why then is there a prayer for Sultan Ahmed in the text?
Anyway, this line of thinking clearly needs a lot more development on these questions are very, very speculative at the moment.
And I also haven't mentioned the illustrations and the marginal decorations,
of course, of this manuscript, which is something I will need to consider further.
So in conclusion, I have very tentatively grouped these three manuscripts together as they perhaps speak to some aspect of artistic,
intellectual and literary movement between the eastern and western parts of greater Persia.
I will hopefully be able to produce further conclusions in the coming months.
But in the meantime, thank you very much for listening and for any questions you might have.