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Tabriz, Iran
dated 714 AH (1314–15 AD)
ink, translucent and opaque watercolour, gold and silver on paper
text copied in naskh script; 35 lines to the page
60 folios; 43.5 x 30cm
ex-Royal Asiatic Society and Khosrovani CollectionsThis copy of the Jami‘ al-Tawarikh is without doubt one of the greatest illustrated medieval manuscripts of either East or West. The folios in the Khalili Collection, together with those in the Edinburgh University Library, are the earliest surviving Arabic version of this monumental work. The manuscript must have belonged to the Timurid ruler Shahrukh, for his seal appears on folio 11a of the Khalili manuscript.
The Jami‘ al-Tawarikh
Rashid al-Din Fadlallah (circa 645–718 AH/ 1247–1318 AD) was a Muslim convert from a Jewish family in Hamadan. His father was an apothecary and he himself trained as a physician, entering the service of the Ilkhan Abaqa (r 1265–1282). On Ghazan’s accession in 694 AH (1295 AD), he gained an enduring position at the summit of state affairs, until rivalry provoked by the Mongol system of dividing power among viziers led to his disgrace and execution in 1318. Enormously rich, Rashid al-Din Fadlallah endowed pious institutions throughout the Ilkhanid domains. Among these, his multi-functional funerary complex, the Rab‘-i Rashidi, at Tabriz, which included a scriptorium to produce and distribute copies of his works, was the most splendid. Yet he was not merely a great administrator: his interests included theology, agriculture, horticulture and especially history, and he was commanded by Ghazan to compile a history of his reign. This was presented to his successor, Öljeytü (r 1304–1316), who commanded him, as a memorial to Ghazan, to enlarge the work to provide a history of all the peoples with whom the Mongols had come into contact.
This was the Jami‘ al-Tawarikh (‘Compendium of Chronicles’), which was to be in four parts: (1) the history of the Mongols from Jenghiz Khan to the death of Ghazan; (2) a history of Öljeytü, followed by a long universal history from Adam, the biblical patriarchs and the ancient kings of Persia to the Prophet Muhammad and the caliphs; (3) the ‘Five Dynasties’ of the Arabs, the Jews, the Mongols, the Franks and the Chinese; and (4) a geographical compendium. The history of Öljeytü and the geographical compendium are lost, and the principal illustrated section appears to have been the world history, now in two different fascicles (one in Edinburgh University Library, the other the Khalili manuscript), which were haphazardly rebound in the 18th century. Together they comprise about half a manuscript of 400 folios or so, recording the history of the non-Mongol peoples of Eurasia. The very possibility of its compilation reflects the cosmopolitan culture of early14th-century Tabriz, where texts in Latin, Persian, Syriac, Mongolian, Chinese and Sanskrit were available and everything from Chinese handscrolls to Old Testaments and Gospels from northern Europe could be used as appropriate illustrative material.
Interestingly, for some of the scenes from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the painters had recourse to adaptations of Christian scenes, which suggests that illustrated copies of the life of the Prophet may not have been available. They made great use of chinoiserie motifs, and their use of wash and line rather than opaque watercolour gives a superficial similarity to recently excavated Yuan tomb-paintings in Inner Mongolia. However, their elongated figures, expressive features and mannered gestures are more in the tradition of later Byzantine painting. The use of silver (now oxidised) for the modelling of faces and their features is likewise very un-Chinese.
Illustrations in the Khalili manuscript
– The Prophet Muhammad and the Caliphate
Folio 5a (66a of the reconstructed manuscript)
The Prophet Muhammad exhorting his kinsmen before the battle of Badr
14 x 25.5cm– China
Folio 9a (249a of the reconstructed manuscript)
First Shang emperorFolio 9b (249b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Founder of the Zhou dynastyFolio 10b (250b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Seven emperors of the Warring StatesFolio 11b (251b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin dynastyFolio 12a (252a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Three emperors of the Eastern Han dynastyFolio 12b (252b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Three emperors of the Three KingdomsFolio 13a (253a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Founder of the Jin dynastyFolio 13b (253b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Two emperors of the Six DynastiesFolio 14a (254a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Two emperors of the Qi and Liang dynastiesFolio 14b (254b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Xuandi of the Later Liang [see illustration]Folio 15a (255a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Founder of the Chen dynastyFolio 16b (256b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Nine emperors of the Tang dynastyFolio 17a (257a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Twelve emperors of the Song dynastyFolio 17b (257b of the reconstructed manuscript)
Nine emperors of the Jin dynasty– India
Folio 21a (261a of the reconstructed manuscript)
The mountains of India
12 x 14 cm [see illustration]– The Jews
Folio 45a (285a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Noah’s Ark
14 x 25.5cm [see illustration]Folio 59a (299a of the reconstructed manuscript)
Jonah and the whale
12 x 25.5cm [see illustration]
S.S. Blair, A Compendium of Chronicles. Rashid al-Din’s Illustrated History of the World, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume XXVII, London 1995.
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.180–97, pp.156–65.
Source: Khalili Collection, MS. 727
