A work worth millions of dollars on every page

🔴 Turkic heritage preserved in Paris and London

🔴 Every letter is gold: a unique manuscript equal to a world record

In the history of Uzbek writing culture and calligraphy, the Timurid period holds a special place. Under the initiative and patronage of Amir Temur and the Timurids, the art of calligraphy flourished. Fields that had been neglected during the Mongol invasion were revived. In major cultural centers of the Timurid state such as Samarkand, Herat, Yazd, and Andijan, prominent schools of calligraphy emerged.

During this period, thanks to the efforts and dedication of the Timurids, alongside the Arabic script, the old Uyghur script inherited from their ancestors referred to by Navoi as “Turkic script” — was also widely used.

One of the most valuable and rare monuments from the Timurid period in the history of Uzbek calligraphy is the Mi‘rajnama manuscript, copied in Uyghur script by Abu Malik Bakhshi in Herat, one of the leading cultural centers of its time.

Today, the manuscript is preserved at the National Library of France in Paris. It contains two works: one is the Mi‘rajnama, and the other is a Turkic translation of Tazkirat al-Awliya by Farid al-Din Attar.

The Mi‘rajnama begins with praise to God and a eulogy to the Prophet, and in the preface, it is stated that it was translated from a work entitled Nahj al-Faradis. The book opens with the account of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) ascension to heaven accompanied by the Angel Jibreel (peace be upon him), continuing with descriptions of the various layers of the heavens, and journeys through paradise and hell.

Overall, this work is considered a highly important scholarly source for the in-depth study of the Turkic language and literature.

The manuscript was completed by the Herati calligrapher Abu Malik Bakhshi in the year 840 AH (1436–1437 CE).

It is known that in the past, the term bakhshi was mainly used to refer to scribes. This term, in ancient Turkic-Buddhist and Manichaean communities, was used in the meanings “master, mentor, teacher”.

It should be noted that the Mi‘rajnama manuscript was recopied in 1464 at the initiative of Abu Sa‘id Mirza. Many pages of this manuscript are preserved today in various museums and private collections. Notably, one of its pages is held in the collection of Ali Sarykhani in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

In May of this year, at an auction organized in London by Christie’s, another page of this manuscript was sold for £1,900,000 (over 2.5 million USD).

According to Christie’s regulations, the buyer must also pay an additional 26% in auction fees. Thus, the price of this single page exceeds 3.3 million USD.

At present, the Museum of the Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan plans to display a facsimile copy of this manuscript in its exhibition and to create wall paintings based on its miniatures.

Rustam Jabborov

P/S: The article may be used provided that a link to the official website of the Center is included.