Walters Ms. W.626, Collection of poems (masnavi) Mas̱navī-i maʿnavī مثنوى معنوى Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana, 1207-1273 Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī جلال الدين محمد بن بهاء الدين محمد رومى Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 672 AH / 1273 CE Principal cataloger Gacek, Adam Cataloger Landau, Amy Cataloger Smith, Sita Copy editor Bockrath, Diane Contributor Barrera, Christina Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Herbert, Lynley Contributor Noel, William Contributor Simpson, Shreve Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Contributor Valle, Chiara Conservator Jewell, Stephanie Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

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 This is an illustrated and illuminated copy of the collection of poems, known as Mas̱navī-i maʿnavī, of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672 AH / 1273 CE). According to the colophon (fol. 314b), the text, written in black nastaʿlīq script, was completed in India in 1073 AH / 1663 CE. Each section of the work is introduced by a double-page illuminated incipit containing a preface in prose, followed by two illustrations and an illuminated incipit page for the masnavi. In total, fifty paintings illustrate the text. The green leather binding is modern. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.626 The primary language in this manuscript is Persian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Arabic. 1b - 314b Mas̱navī-i maʿnavī مثنوى معنوى بسم الله... هذا الكتاب المثنوى وهو اصول اصول اصول الدين... Text divided into six books (daftars), each introduced by a preface in Arabic or Persian; fols. 170-177 misbound, belonging to book 6; continuation of fol. 169b on fol. 178a, the eight folios in-between belonging between fols. 266 and 267 in the same order tammat bi-al-khayr wa-al-ẓafar /1/ bi-tārīkh-i nūzahum shahr-i Dhī al-Qaʿdah sanat-i 1073 /2/ tamma tamma /3/ Provides date of completion but does not offer name of scribe

Thin laid paper, probably Kashmiri

 Foliation: ii+314+ii26.5 15.0 20.5 10.5 Foliation in pencil of 314 folios; two folios numbered 239

Written obliquely on versos

Framing lines in gold, blue, and black Written in black and red nastaʿlīq script Fifty Indian-style illustrations; each book introduced by a double-page illuminated incipit with a preface in prose, followed by two illustrations and an illuminated incipit page for the masnavi with a headpiece and decorated border Double-page illuminated incipit Incipit This is the right side of a double-page illuminated incipit introducing the preface to the first book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. Double-page illuminated incipit Incipit This is the left side of a double-page illuminated incipit introducing the preface to the first book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. A prince returning from a hunt and a woman in a pavilion Illustration; frontispiece This is the right side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece introducing the first book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. A prince is shown on horseback with a gesture of surprise as a woman waits in a pavilion. A court scene with a physician feeling a sick woman's pulse Illustration; frontispiece This is the left side of a double-page illustrated frontispiece introducing the first book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. Incipit page with illuminated headpiece Incipit; headpiece This incipit page with illuminated headpiece introduces the first book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. A lion and a fox admire their reflection in the water of a well while a rabbit looks on Illustration A court scene with musicians and dancers Illustration A battle scene Illustration A king gives a purse of gold to one of his servants Illustration A king gives a purse of gold to one of his servants to free a holy man from his debts to money lenders. A peasant carries a lion Illustration A peasant carries a lion from a compound in the darkness of night. The peasant has mistaken the lion, who had devoured one of his cows, for one of the selfsame cows. A group of Sufis, having stolen a donkey from another Sufi, celebrate in dance and song Illustration A man kills his mother, who has committed adultery Illustration A king and two newly enslaved people Illustration A king tests two newly enslaved people, one of whom is white, while the other is a person of color. He sends the enslaved person of color to the bathhouse. An enslaved person of color, washed and shaved, stands in front of the king Illustration Owls attack a falcon Illustration Owls attack a falcon who lost its way and landed on the roof of a deserted house. A bear and a sleeping man Illustration A bear, not being able to shoo the flies attacking his friend while asleep, brings a millstone to crush them, not realizing that he will crush his friend's head, too. A dog bites a blind beggar Illustration A drunkard and a policeman Illustration A mouse, clutching the reins of a camel, at a stream of water Illustration A court scene with food and music Illustration Two naked girls in a pool attended by angels Illustration Incipit page with illuminated headpiece Incipit; headpiece This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece introducing the third book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. A mother elephant crushes to death the men who killed her cub and ate its meat Illustration Majnūn feeds a dog in the vicinity of Laylá’s house Illustration A boastful jackal Illustration A jackal, having colored his coat in a jar of paint, boasts that he is more beautiful than peacocks. A jackal in the company of other animals and birds Illustration This illustration depicts a jackal, in the company of other animals and birds, and the portrait of the Pharaoh who thought himself to be God. Hebrew mothers with their babies in front of the Pharaoh who intends to kill them Illustration A snake charmer and a sleeping dragon on his way to Baghdad Illustration Townspeople, who have never seen an elephant, examine its appearance in the dark Illustration Misbehaving students and their supposedly sick teacher Illustration The mothers of students visit a sick teacher Illustration The king of the elephants Illustration The king of the elephants comes to a pool of water, in which is seen the reflection of the moon. He tests the story of the leader of a band of hares, in which the moon will supposedly be angry if the elephants come to drink from the pool. The owner of a house and a thief Illustration This illustration depicts an exchange between the owner of a house and a thief who makes a hole in the wall to break in, while pretending that he is playing drums. King Solomon hears the complaint of an ant who was blown off the wall and got wounded Illustration A court scene with music, dance, and wine Illustration A scene depicting various activities Illustration This scene depicts various activities involving men, women, and children, such as making bread, fetching water, bringing in hunted animals, and combing a nursing mother’s hair. A shoemaker and the unfaithful wife of a Sufi surprised by her husband’s unexpected return home Illustration A woman plays a stringed instrument in the company of tamed animals and birds Illustration Incipit page with illuminated headpiece Incipit; headpiece This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece introducing the sixth book (daftar) of the Mas̱navī. A man questions a preacher about the meaning of the direction a rooster faces while on the roof Illustration Thieves, unhindered by guards, attack a caravan while its occupants sleep Illustration A hunting scene Illustration Maidens bathe a princess who inspects herself in a mirror Illustration A wise man and a peacock plucking out its feathers to be not attractive to people Illustration An unhappy deer in the company of donkeys Illustration A maid, who used to sleep with a donkey, pretends to feed the animal Illustration Iyāz searches for hidden treasure Illustration Iyāz, Sultan Maḥmūd’s confidant, searches for hidden treasure. A man brings out instead his modest fur coat and shoes (here mistakenly shown as a hat). A woodcutter’s miserable donkey who envies the king’s horses, fed with delicious grain Illustration Horses return from battle Illustration Badly wounded horses return from battle and make the donkey realize that it should be satisfied with its modest existence. A sick lion, inspired by a clever fox, hunts a donkey for its brain to cure his disease Illustration A mosque scene and the question of the length of pubic hair Illustration The husband of a greedy woman Illustration The husband of a greedy woman weighs the cat that supposedly ate all the meat that he bought for his guests. Majnūn in the company of animals in the wilderness Illustration A young man and an old man Illustration A young man in love with an old man comes to visit him but finds him asleep. He puts some walnuts in his pocket as a sign of his continuous affection. A mouse and a frog near a pond Illustration

Modern green leather (no flap)

 19 Dhū al-Qaʿdah 1073 AH / 1663 CE India Round seal impression: Ibrāhīm [...] (front flyleaf iia) Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest Relevant Works Richard, Francis. Catalogue des manuscrits persans. (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1989), nos. 265-7, 269. Gacek, Adam. Persian Manuscripts in the Libraries of McGill University: Brief Union Catalogue. (Montreal: McGill University Libraries, 2005), no. 154. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Judaism Talmud Collection of Sermons Notable Notable binding Textbook Scholarly compendium Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Literature Japanese Japan Nordic Scandinavia Catalog Dictionary Spanish Colonial Mexico Mayan Haggadah Switzerland Confessional Mirror Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Codex India Manuscript Walters Art Museum Sufism Illumination Illustration Islamic Book Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Colophon