Rare and comprehensive Arabic commentary on one of the greatest works of Persian poetry

Sururi, Muslihaddin Mustafa b. Sha'ban al-. Sharh Gulistan [Commentary on the Rose Garden].

Ottoman Turkey, ca. 1700 / 17th century CE.

8vo (135 x 205 mm). Arabic manuscript on cream-coloured and yellow-tinted polished paper. 279 ff. 23 lines of black naskh, mostly within red rules. Early 19th century blindstamped full red morocco with fore-edge flap, marbled pastedowns, stored in custom marbled and leather slipcase with top flap.

€ 18,000.00

A rare example of an Arabic commentary on the famous Gulistan of Sa'di, composed in Istanbul by Mustafa Sururi Efendi (1491-1561) for his student, Prince Mustafa (1515-53), the son of Sultan Süleyman I. The colophon states that the work was completed at the end of Rabi' II 957 AH (May 1550 CE) in Amasiyah (Amasya, Turkey).

This is one of two well-known Arabic commentaries on the Gulistan (the other being that of Ya'qub ibn 'Ali al-Burusawi). Haji Khalifa mentions this title in his Kashf al-Zunun, singling it out as a very comprehensive example. As the Gulistan was considered one of the greatest works of Persian literature, commentaries in Arabic were always uncommon.

Sururi, a native of Gallipoli on the Dardanelles Strait, is famous as a scholar of Islamic sciences such as tafsir, hadith, and phiolology. He served as mentor to Shehzade Mustafa since 1548. After the prince's execution, at his father's orders, Sururi withdrew from the world in bitterness for the rest of his life. He secluded himself in his mosque, enjoying a reputation for saintliness, especially among sailors (cf. Brockelmann).

Provenance

1) Formerly in the Acre library of Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar (ca. 1720s-1804), Ottoman governor of Sidon, with his seal on the first leaf. 2) Later in the collection of Paul Savoye, French consul in Homs and later in Damascus; presented in 1901 to 3) Frédéric Macler (d. 1937), chair of Armenian at the École des langues orientales, with his signed ownership statement glued to the front pastedown: "Ce manuscrit m'a été donné à Damas en 1901, par M. P. Savoye, consul de France. / F. Macler" and his shelfmark ticket ("Ms. orient. Macler 3"); 4) latterly in a Parisian private collection, kept in the family for several generations over the 20th century and dispersed in 2022.

Condition

First leaf remargined with slight stains, otherwise exceptionally well preserved in a rubbed and slightly chipped but still appealing slipcase.

References

GAL I, 438 (579), 3.

Stock Code: BN#60713 Tags: , , , , ,

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