Christie’s will hold its Spring sale of Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Rugs and Carpets at its London headquarters on 1 May. The top lot is a rare folio from the Timurid manuscript the Nahj al-Faradis, commissioned by Sultan Abu Sa’id Gurkan in 1466 in Timurid Herat.
The manuscript is dedicated to the hadith about the Mi’raj of the Prophet. The folio carries two paintings, one depicting the Prophet arriving in the Fourth Heaven and the other showing the Prophet meeting Jesus at the Bayt al-Ma’mur. It is unique apart from a sister manuscript written about two decades earlier and now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Because certain folios are absent from the Paris manuscript, this folio is the only surviving depiction of the scene. It carries an estimate of £2,000,000 to £3,000,000 (US$2,600,000 to US$3,900,000).
Held twice a year, the sale spans nine centuries of the Islamic world and brings together carpets, ceramics, manuscripts, textiles, works on paper and metalwork. Works from the sale will be on view at Christie’s London headquarters from 25 to 31 April.
(Press Release)
